The Secret WWE History Of The Bloodline

As of writing, Solo Sikoa has assumed leadership of a rebooted Bloodline stable, choosing violence and cheap suits over long speeches and airplanes stocked with steak and sushi. It's been quite the pivot following Roman Reigns' high profile Undisputed WWE Championship loss at WrestleMania XL, not least because Tama Tonga's surprise debut brought about the permanent end of Jimmy Uso's association with the group.

They weren't the only changes to take place in the immediate aftermath of the group's biggest ever narrative setback. The Rock "left for a while", and left no clue about his existing relationship with The Bloodline, nor if he was going to continue as its 'Final Boss' in Roman's assumed absence.

Thus, the viewer has been left to decide for themselves if Sikoa is acting under instruction from 'The Great One' or if he's finally taking the initiative with 'The Tribal Chief' now AWOL. Paul Heyman seemingly has no idea about any of the group's next move, bringing into question his value as the "Wiseman" on a weekly basis. The atmosphere within the ranks is an unnerving one, fuelled by Solo's youthful exuberance and the belief that violence will - rather quickly - solve everything.

By week two of the reboot, fans were already getting the gist. Chants of "we want Roman" boomed out as Sikoa and his "MFT" Tama bloodied up Kevin Owens via attempted vehicular homicide. SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis made it clear to Heyman - as he'd done when Roman was still on top - that these actions wouldn't be tolerated longterm, suggesting that the lingering power struggle between the two sides is about to get a lot worse before it gets better.

Sikoa was enacting the violence and ordering it, and there certainly wasn't any suggestion that he'd sanction somebody in a suit putting a stop to it, unless that suit was a bejewelled Versace number being worn by The Rock. Jimmy Uso and Kevin Owens are the first victims, but evidently won't be the last, and expect more chaos when the villains return from recovery to seek their vengeance. This is how things go in pro wrestling, as well Uso and Solo in particular should know.

Pro wrestling - and especially WWE - has been family business going back decades, and Cody Rhodes literally calling "bullsh*t" on that during a February 2024 WrestleMania Kickoff special triggered the chain of events that has led us to the latest instalment of a saga that remains one of the most significant in the history of the industry.

What felt like the finishing of a story at WrestleMania was in fact just the continuation of a much bigger one, featuring several of this current generation's main characters. Cody's mantra had been "Wrestling has more than one royal family" from the moment he stepped away from the McMahon vision of it, and he returned in 2022 to prove his point. But he hadn't accounted for just how right he was.

At WrestleMania 39, he had to take down Roman Reigns and The Usos, acting under instruction of the elders from back in 2020, before being felled by a hooded Solo Sikoa. It took an army of babyfaces to help him at long last ascend one year later. And had it not already been the case, Philadelphia categorically confirmed itself as a cursed destination for Roman Reigns and The Rock following the events of WrestleMania.

The “City Of Brotherly Love” had been a cauldron of hate back in 2015 when the cousins stood side-by-side at the conclusion of a Royal Rumble deemed by many to be the worst in the company’s history. The Rock was, by then, an unflappably popular special guest that traditionally generated reactions incomparable to almost everybody else that could walk the aisle in WWE. The biliousness directed towards his cousin as the organisation’s chosen one was a reflective of a changing tide his raised eyebrow couldn’t arrest.

In fact, it was ‘The Great One’s confused and frustrated look towards the Wells Fargo crowd that defined the ugly scene. That building had booed him before, but even when he came up against Stone Cold Steve Austin at WrestleMania XV, they were charmed by his antics. In on the joke, in on the understanding that the guy they were watching was fundamentally the coolest wrestler alive, even if he was fighting a corporate cause.

The same could not be said for the crowd in 2015. They were hating what he stood for, and hating him, and The Rock wasn’t coming back to WWE to be hated. Not then, anyway.It wasn’t a misread of the room by The Rock so much as a misunderstanding of the creative problems within the company thanks to a Vince McMahon growing even more stubborn the older and more out of step he became. The Roman Reigns push had been a disaster with multiple tendrils, and one had reached out and slapped the most ‘Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment’ right in the face. The two cousins coming together should have been a dream moment to foreshadow an eventual dream match and instead a nightmare overwhelmed everything.

Sound familiar?

In 2024, fans once again rejected the Rock and Roman Reigns, and it frankly doesn’t bare thinking about how Philadelphia would have reacted if WWE held the wheel and drove ahead with the original plan of booking The Rock as the number one contender to ‘The Tribal Chief’ on Night Two of WrestleMania. But the Nightmare was one of a much different kind this time around, and it was thankfully as result of good booking rather than bad.

Great, in fact. Cody Rhodes’ story needed to be finished, and The Rock’s return very nearly bulldozed that before an all-timer pivot that occurred six days after it looked as though Rhodes’ long-awaited rematch with Roman Reigns was being placed on ice. Back within the realms of kayfabe, The 'Tribal Chief' and newly-christened 'Final Boss' were now being booed because it was the plan rather than a protest, and as both looked at the bright lights and Philly night sky following the pain of defeat, the dawning of a new chapter in this rich history was inevitable.

Back inside Wells Fargo 24 hours later, The Rock held the belt that now belonged to Cody in a moment so sinister it made certain a match between the two was one day to follow. The two went 40 gripping minutes during the show's commercial-free first hour, allowing the crowd to bask in Rhodes' reflected glory and the suffering Rock was trying to mask. This was WrestleMania XV rather than Rumble '15, giving 'The Great One' the reaction he actually craved rather than one he was pushing back against. Was Roman Reigns the common denominator?

Within the fiction, their overconfident bond had failed The Bloodline at WrestleMania, but Reigns' 1316 days atop the mountain might have been enough to trigger his first true run as a babyface when he returns. Rock, meanwhile, is only getting more deadly, and that philosophy marries up more with Solo Sikoa's refocussed version of the group much more than Roman's slow-and-steady mentality ever did.

If history informs the future, the most recent crop of Samoan family members will yet again have to subvert stereotypes and force their way back into the conversation. In 2024, the sticks to beat Solo and Tama with aren't rooted in ancient bigoted viewpoints but a systemic othering of talent not deemed worthy of headlining shows.

A "B-Team" label hangs around the necks of both in the short-term, but with the silent backing Rock and/or Reigns, committed booking and the strong, believable work that has defined generations dating back decades, it'd be naïve to assume they won't be next in line to make justify the historic blood oath and make their elders proud.