Monday Night Raw‘s 30th-anniversary special (Raw XXX) kicked off with a special “Tribal Court” involving The Bloodline and the case of Sami Zayn’s loyalty to the group. Paul Heyman represented the prosecution and showed a number of instances where it seemed as though Zayn was either disloyal to Reigns or was trying to seek his own power, all the while claiming he was in a conspiracy with Kevin Owens. This drove Reigns to order Solo Sikoa to hit Zayn with a Samoan Spike, only for Jey Uso to step in and defend Zayn. He showed his own reel of footage, calling back to all of the matches Zayn had helped the group win over the last nine months (most notably WarGames back at Survivor Series).ย
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Reigns issued his final verdict, saying Zayn is “not guilty… for now.” He said Zayn will face his final test to prove if he’s really in The Bloodline or not this Saturday at the Royal Rumble, which will see Reigns defend his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens.ย
Zayn has made it clear in numerous interviews that the original plans for his involvement with The Bloodline were only set for a few weeks. However, his acting ability and chemistry with every member of the group resulted in it becoming WWE’s biggest storyline.ย
“The whole thing actually evolved quite a bit from the initial idea. I love where we’re at right now, I think a lot of fans are enjoying it. I’m happy it went the way it did. The initial idea wasn’t to necessarily join the Bloodline because I didn’t think that was possible. It’s the Bloodline, you have to be blood, right?” Zayn told WWE Die Woche last October. “The idea was, I was calling myself the locker room leader at that time. Roman Reigns is the Head of Table,” Zayn continued. “The idea would have been to have an on-screen relationship where I’m checking in with him, he’s checking in with me, I can help him out when the time is right. That kind of thing. Then it just morphed and evolved into this.”
“It’s been a collaborative process for sure with everyone involved. Everyone is really in their roles full steam ahead and that’s what’s making it work so well. Everyone is so committed to it,” he added. “And the fans, I see them predicting what’s going to happen next every week and it’s never quite what they think is going to happen. That’s what I love. I love when it’s semi-predictable, but it’s not at all predictable.”
This story is developing…
