How Will The Bloodline Story Be Remembered?

[fw91]

Just spitballing out of boredom lol. Assuming Roman and The Usos lose sometime in 2023, where do you think it winds up in wrestling history? It was definitely polarizing with grievances of "misery booking" being thrown out there, but they have continued to stay over with good matches, secondary character development, Sami entering and injecting more life into it, and when They do lose their titles, I'm sure it will be a satisfying conclusion just for how big of moments they will be. So is there any chance that The Bloodline will be looked back at as one of the better longer term stories the WWE has done or does the "misery booking" ruin it and it's one of the worst ones ever told. Or maybe it's just somewhere in between?

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

I don’t think we’ll know for sure until we see how they book the guys that beat them.

[Mrs. Potato Dick]

It's going to come down to WHO unseats the champions and how they're booked thereafter.

[Deleted]

Dec 28, 2022 20:44:54 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

I don’t think we’ll know for sure until we see how they book the guys that beat them.

Whoever does it better be booked as an absolute god amongst men, and keeping that energy up with a babyface is gonna be rough.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Dec 28, 2022 20:44:54 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

I don’t think we’ll know for sure until we see how they book the guys that beat them.

Yeah, it's this. All depends on how the end is booked. Even though they're clearly the most over act on the roster by a long, long way there's people who insist it all sucks and why doesn't the guy they like just have a month long reign and then they go back to it?

They gotta stick the landing. And they haven't done a reign like this since Andre beat Hogan in 1988. A lot has changed since then, so it's won't be like that, but they gotta stick the landing.

A lot of people have their little hearts set on Cody Rhodes, I think they'll be disappointed. And no, I don't have any better options.

[Fade]

One of the GOATs.

[Chiral]

Dec 28, 2022 23:11:30 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Dec 28, 2022 20:44:54 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

I don’t think we’ll know for sure until we see how they book the guys that beat them.

Yeah, it's this. All depends on how the end is booked. Even though they're clearly the most over act on the roster by a long, long way there's people who insist it all sucks and why doesn't the guy they like just have a month long reign and then they go back to it?

They gotta stick the landing. And they haven't done a reign like this since Andre beat Hogan in 1988. A lot has changed since then, so it's won't be like that, but they gotta stick the landing.

A lot of people have their little hearts set on Cody Rhodes, I think they'll be disappointed. And no, I don't have any better options.

this post is so needlessly catty LOL

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Dec 28, 2022 22:06:38 GMT -5 @thelongandtheshort said:

Dec 28, 2022 20:44:54 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

I don’t think we’ll know for sure until we see how they book the guys that beat them.

Whoever does it better be booked as an absolute god amongst men, and keeping that energy up with a babyface is gonna be rough.

The moment this person takes the fall in a non-title match is gonna be an absolute shitfight, but, sure, keep talking about how the champion shouldn’t be booked to be unbeatable and invulnerable.

[Alice Syndrome]

It won't be remembered because its never going to end.

[thechase]

Turning Sami into the next Daniel Bryan

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

Probably pretty well because it's going to come across great in video packages which will make people forget how much of a slog it was to get through for 3 years.

[BRV]

The way the story keeps staying fresh already puts it above long-term reigns like Evolution or The Authority. They've been smart about keeping Roman Reigns off screen every week and keeping the attention off him, instead building internal Bloodline stories around the addition of Sami Zayn, the infighting between Jey Uso and Sami, the occasional hotheadedness of Jey, the inclusion of Solo Sikoa. There are a lot of branches to this story that have spun off of Roman Reigns' title run, and it hasn't just been "Roman Reigns shows up every Friday, cuts a 20-minute promo to start the show, then wins at every pay-per-view." However, it all has connective tissue to Roman Reigns, so when he does show up, even if it is just to cut a promo, it feels important.

But I agree with the consensus, it'll be remembered by how it ends. If they screw it up, it could be three years of really great booking and storytelling down the drain. But if they land it properly, it could be remembered as one of the all-time greats.

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

We’ll have a better idea in a few months post-Wrestlemania Backlash once these major developments being set up have passed.

[Deleted]

Will be remembered for not ending when it should have.

[BRV]

Dec 29, 2022 11:36:22 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

Will be remembered for not ending when it should have.

I tended to agree with that sentiment in the immediate aftermath of Clash at the Castle, but the Sami Zayn storyline has breathed new life into the entire Bloodline saga. Since then, the Bloodline has felt even more important. Now WWE has the chance to mint main eventers in Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (if they're the ones to take the belts off the Usos) and whoever ultimately beats Roman Reigns. Instead of making one guy look good (Drew McIntyre in Wales), they could do it with three or four different guys at WrestleMania.

[Ben Wyatt]

Dec 29, 2022 15:45:19 GMT -5 BRV said:

Dec 29, 2022 11:36:22 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

Will be remembered for not ending when it should have.

I tended to agree with that sentiment in the immediate aftermath of Clash at the Castle, but the Sami Zayn storyline has breathed new life into the entire Bloodline saga. Since then, the Bloodline has felt even more important. Now WWE has the chance to mint main eventers in Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (if they're the ones to take the belts off the Usos) and whoever ultimately beats Roman Reigns. Instead of making one guy look good (Drew McIntyre in Wales), they could do it with three or four different guys at WrestleMania.

It's funny that yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of Starrcade 97, because there are some great parallels to that event with the upcoming Wrestlemania.   They really better stick the landing on this, because the booking of the Bloodline (with tomorrow's hyped tag match pending) is teetering on, if not already past "96-97 nWo wins every big match" territory. Whoever unseats The Usos/Roman needs to do so DEFINITEVELY. No shmoz bullshit or contested finish, or they will have massively dropped the ball

[ChitownKnight]

Dec 29, 2022 15:45:19 GMT -5 BRV said:

Dec 29, 2022 11:36:22 GMT -5 @sigmax said:

Will be remembered for not ending when it should have.

I tended to agree with that sentiment in the immediate aftermath of Clash at the Castle, but the Sami Zayn storyline has breathed new life into the entire Bloodline saga. Since then, the Bloodline has felt even more important. Now WWE has the chance to mint main eventers in Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (if they're the ones to take the belts off the Usos) and whoever ultimately beats Roman Reigns. Instead of making one guy look good (Drew McIntyre in Wales), they could do it with three or four different guys at WrestleMania.

I know people were upset about Drew getting beat at Clash, but the dude still steamrolled Brock f***ing Lesnar at Wrestlemania and carried the company through the Pandemic. I think Roman’s defeat should mint a new Main Eventer like Cody

[HMARK Center]

I can't comment on the feeling of watching the story as it unfolds, since I don't watch weekly WWE TV, but as a general rule I do think a lot of arcs like this is that you need to wait awhile, since unlike most basic wrestling stories you're probably not looking at one major outcome that the story was designed to bring about, but instead a web of outcomes and events that might not fully shake out for months.

There's obviously the immediate concerns: how did the story impact the characters involved in and around it? Are those characters better off than they were at the start? Did a new person get over by being the one to dethrone the champ? Long term, though, you're also stuck waiting to see if the characters involved are changed or tweaked in some way moving forward; like, now that the longterm champ has dropped their belt, are they positioned to assume another role in stories, facilitated by having had such a noteworthy reign? Is your show in a position to allow for new protagonists to rise? Is the rest of the fictional world reshaped in any way by the longterm champion having fallen?

So yeah, I wouldn't boil it down to a simple "did it create a new star", though that would obviously be a point in its favor if it did, but instead a more wholistic view: given how much this has been a major part of the promotion for so long, does its ending really feel like a culmination that will have consequences beyond a single match's outcome?

[Cvslfc123]

For going on too long.

[kingoftheindies]

I think it will be remembered as the angle that finally got fans to accept Roman Reigns as the top guy