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With Survivor Series rapidly approaching, with the show headlined by a showdown between Roman Reigns and his OG Bloodline against Solo Sikoa and the New Bloodline in WarGames, the “OTC” was asked one very simple question by Jimmy Traina on the SI Media Podcast: what is the best moment in Survivor Series history?
Understandably, Reigns didn't take long to deliver his answer, as he actually debuted on the show with Seth Rollins and Jon Moxley as members of The Shield.
“I’m not a historian. My career has been so long and I’ve been involved in (so much). I debuted at Survivor Series. I don’t even know. I have to go with that. My debut,” Reigns declared via Fightful. “The Shield’s debut is the most special thing that ever happened at Survivor Series. There are a lot of really great debuts. It’s odd how many big time debuts happened at Survivor Series. Dwayne (Johnson aka The Rock) was one of them. Undertaker (debuted at Survivor Seires). Based off how it all shaped out, The Shield debuting was one of the greatest transitional situations of three young talent coming in, taking the company by the neck, and this is what you have today.”
Widely considered one of the all-time great homegrown factions of the modern era or any era, if we're being honest, The Shield impacted the WWE Universe in a way few other groups could imagine, with their original run making hundreds of memories for millions of fans around the world. While they almost certainly won't reunite until they are collectively inducted into the Hall of Fame, their legacy casts a long shadow on Survivor Series, WWE, and the wrestling industry as a whole.
Roman Reigns hypothesizes about his fit in the Attitude Era
Elsewhere in the podcast, Reigns was asked about the Attitude Era and how his faction, The Bloodline, would have fit in during the era. While Reigns does believe they would have been just fine, how they were used likely would have been very different, as it probably would have involved a lot more drinking and maybe some strip clubs for good measure, too.
“Their product for the time, they didn’t make the rules, they weren’t the ones with the boundaries of the ratings. They had a lot more freedom. I always think how cool would it be if the Bloodline was sitting in strip club drinking whiskey and talking in the shadows,” Reigns noted via Fightful. “There are different ways to adult these things up. At the end of the day, they had to go out there and perform and put their bodies on the line. They had to go out there, and there had to be continuity to their storytelling, and they had to create elements where the characters are bouncing off of each other. Their rules were a lot looser, which kind of makes it a little easier, in some regard, but you have to keep that, I don’t know if it’s a moral compass, but how far is too far? There is a weird responsibility to try and toe that line.”
Is Reigns on the money? Yeah, he probably is, but frankly, it's a good thing that isn't the reality, as The Bloodline's biggest appeal is how quiet the storyline is, with the promotion taking major inspiration from Martin Scorsese gangster flicks, where explosive firefights are made all the more impressive by the tense, quiet conversations that set up the hits.
