NOBODY Should Acknowledge Roman Reigns Because...
Sami Zayn was the first from outside the familial walls to be wowed by what The Bloodline promised, before learning the hard way that it fed a dysfunctional leader to the point of dangerous megalomania.
The Usos becoming Unified WWE Tag Team Champions kept them in line, as did breaking The New Day's longevity record in November 2022. If Jey Uso carried reservations from the darkest days of 2020, they were easy to suppress when draped in gold and the synthetic luxuries being in Roman's debt afforded. Jimmy was the first to break rank - if that's even what it was - when he admitted to quite liking having Zayn around, all because Jey's mind had been warped and twisted by being under Roman's control the longest. Sami earned Jey's love and respect in the same way Jey felt he had to earn Roman's - by eating a load of sh*t and learning to like the taste of it. He sits on the fringes now because he has to make the hardest choice yet.
Cody, meanwhile, has spent the last three years being everything Roman decided not to be upon his 2020 return. He has "Done The Work". It's not splashed across a weight belt just to sell t-shirts or synergise with a hashtag. Rhodes' story has cinematic flavour but scans for real - he bet on himself, wagered that bet into Changing The World, and returned to WWE an entirely different man than the one that left.
Comparisons should be drawn between Rhodes' return in 2022 and Roman's from his self-imposed pandemic exile, but should end there. 'The American Nightmare' - desperate to achieve wrestling's American Dream because his father couldn't - understands Roman's motivation but refutes his method. He's also had long enough to scout the Champion's strongest weapon, and knows its weaker than ever.
It's not a Superman Punch or Spear that's put them all down for the count, but the constant strength in numbers supplied by his controlled and coerced family. As they melt away through the loss and lack of faith following the Sami Zayn fallout, so too will the mythology of 'The Tribal Chief'.
Before Reigns even realises he's at a crossroads, he'll eat one of a different kind and the dream as he knew it will be all over.