KEY POINTS
- Sami Zayn has been a great addition to Roman Reigns’ faction
- Zayn recently made all members of The Bloodline break character on-camera
- The former NXT star explains the importance of having characters sometimes break
Sami Zayn being brought into Roman Reigns’ “Bloodline” faction has been one of the best decisions that WWE made, and the payoff has been worth the effort.
Zayn recently spoke with Metro on how his little schisms with Jey Uso were not planned at all, but he also admitted to willfully injecting hilarity into their weekly appearances.
“Everything in moderation, right? You don’t want it to be every week to where it just doesn’t look like people are taking it seriously, or it breaks characters and takes you out of it,” Zayn said.
Zayn has had different interactions with all members of the Bloodline, even with manager Paul Heyman, despite them not being entirely welcome to having him at first–though fans have been keeping track of his engagements with the younger of the Uso twins.
On the October 28 episode of SmackDown, Zayn and Uso got into a war of words that had the latter acting out of line to the point that Reigns was about to confront him.
Zayn then said that Jey has not been “very Uce-y,” which drew laughs from the crowd and instantly had Reigns in-character laughing at the situation while Heyman cracked a sly smile, Jimmy Uso covering his grin and Jey on the brink of breaking–with Solo Sikoa being the only one spared from the hard camera.
“The Honorary Uce” later added that “it gets us all sometimes,” which prompted the younger Uso to completely smile on camera despite the tense situation and turn away before the segment returned to its serious tone.
According to Reddit, “usi” is an explicit word in Tongan and independent research can confirm that it does have explicit connotations which makes it an even better moment altogether.
With the Bloodline’s Samoan heritage, them interpreting Zayn’s “Uce-y” as something wildly different from what it means in their language is a nice touch from the Canadian-born performer as he delivered it in character, progressed the segment and got a solid reception from the fans.
Another moment that showcased Zayn’s skills was when he also broke Reigns and Logan Paul in one in-ring segment.
It is clear to most fans that moments such as these would not have been possible had Triple H not been elevated to chief content officer since it was reported that he had allowed his performers to go unscripted.
While pro wrestling is drama and story-driven for the most part, what does make it fun is the fans’ support of the product–something which the former NXT Champion fully understands.
“I think really what fans are appreciating with seeing little chinks in the armor here and there is it kinda reminds you that we’re having fun doing it as well… But I think it needs to be sparing, and we’re professionals and we’re trying to tell a story here,” he later added.
Zayn’s addition to the Bloodline has injected some much-needed brevity into their intense segments, and it has made the group an even bigger attraction on weekly shows.