THIS Is Really The Best Wrestling Storyline Happening Right Now

He can convey menace by standing still. His driving forearms look concussive, gross, fabulous. His incredulous promos are just as threatening as those rare occasions on which he loses his sh*t. But it's difficult to muster the same level of insight towards the Bloodline saga because, really, it isn't invited.

Consider where Hangman Page and the Elite were in November to where they are now. Kenny Omega has become the Belt Collector. The Young Bucks, corrupted by Callis after a Matt Jackson loss to PAC suggested a title loss was imminent, have also descended into the bratty arrogance of old. Hangman Page, restored by his endearingly dorky but earnestly supportive group of friends, has through a redemption opposite Brian Cage finally grasped his value. Between October 2020 and now, Roman Reigns has eventually coerced Jey and Jimmy Uso into acknowledging him as 'The Tribal Chief'. Jey did this some time before Jimmy did, and was primarily used by Roman to lose main event matches, for which he was told off. Jimmy upon returning from injury first protested before falling in line, and if this is a ruse, it's a painful and silly one; like Jey, he gets battered every week. Around all this, Roman has entered good-to-excellent in-ring performances in rivalries that have all, with the sole exception of the Cesaro programme, dragged. The repetitive storytelling is very on-the-nose, heavy on exposition, and lacking badly in exciting, killer angles. The Bloodline saga would have ruled in 2015. Standards, however, have changed.

The main issue is easily reduced: Roman Reigns does not have a Hangman Page. He has a Rock, and that match will be enormous, but the prospect of something enormous doesn't compare to the immediate feeling of a wrong being righted.

Here's the reality: if WWE were capable of penning a storyline as intricate and long-term and appealing as Kenny Omega Vs. Hangman Page, in collaboration with its talent, there might not even be an AEW.

Between the deep emotional investment, long-term scope, elite-tier in-ring action, sprawling intrigue, and the small wrinkles of comedy, the storyline smashes every single criteria of why people watch pro wrestling.