Roman Reigns is back in business. During Saturday’s WWE SummerSlam, the Head of the Table returned to the WWE by helping Cody Rhodes retain his Undisputed WWE Championship. Though Reigns led the Bloodline when he lost to Rhodes at WrestleMania XL earlier this year, Reigns was quick to land a super punch and spear on Solo Sikoa, completing his face turn in one fell swoop. Even though Reigns’ return was anticipated, fans are ecstatic over his decision to help Rhodes over his former group in the Bloodline.
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“He’s not invited to Thanksgiving. Not yet. There’s an open seat but…too early to fill it right now,” Rhodes’ wife Brandi wrote on Twitter.
@Navtreaks added, “ROMAN REIGNS STOOD IN THE RING SHOWING EVERYONE WHY THIS IS HIS COMPANYWWE IS BACK. THE POWER IS BACK.THE ORIGINAL TRIBAL CHIEF IS BACK.”
Reigns has been absent from all WWE programming after he lost the Undisputed WWE Championship to Rhodes on the second night of WrestleMania XL in April. At the time, his title reign was at 1,316 days. Shortly after Reigns’ loss, WWE chief creative Paul “Triple H” Levesque teased the new direction of the fan-favorite.
“It’s not completing the story. It’s just getting to the end of this chapter, because he’s gonna go on a whole new story now that is going to blow people’s minds,”ย Triple Hย said at the time. “I know he’s going to take it to a whole other level. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for Roman Reigns.”
Given Reigns was absent from programing, Sikoa officially took over the mantle of Tribal Chief on the July 5th episode of WWE SmackDown.
“This…is an Ula Fala. This makes me the Tribal Chief,” Sikoa said in a promo. “This is not what I wanted, but this is what my family needed. Roman Reigns was not man enough to defend our Title at WrestleMania. He was not man enough to defend our legacy against Cody Rhodes and his legacy. Therefore he shall no longer call himself the Tribal Chief because I’m the Tribal Chief now. And I’m going to take back our WWE Undisputed Title from Cody Rhodes.”
With Sikoa as leader, the second iteration of the Bloodline also includes Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, and Jacob Fatu.