18 Ups & 15 Downs For WWE In 2023

3. ‘Bottom Of The 3rd Inning’

Paul Heyman’s infamous post-SummerSlam quote describing where the Bloodline story was received immediate mockery, and rightly so.

While the Bloodline saga captivated fans for the first few months of 2023, it completely fell apart in the latter half of the year, with Roman Reigns all but disappearing, Jimmy Uso inexplicably turning heel and the once-dominant faction limping into December with Heyman, Solo Sikoa and Uso as the remnants of the group.

It’s obvious that with Reigns’ part-time schedule and Jey Uso leaving the group, the Bloodline was going to face lean times, but Heyman’s analogy becomes laughable when you realize that the middle innings of this game involves basically putting the group in a deep freeze as a secondary act, rather than the ever-present, show-defining faction.

Sure, things will ramp back up with the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 40 on the horizon, but the Bloodline story was exposed as not having enough juice to remain on the front burner, and hardly was in the “bottom of the third inning.”