When Roman Reigns took the ring against Jey Uso in the main event of SummerSlam, fans packed themselves into their seats for what was destined to be a long, hard-hitting match.
The keyword in that sentence? Long.
Wrestling for over 40 minutes in a match that featured interference spot after interference spot, Reigns retained his title, but not without leaving some fans wondering if there was some fat around the edges Roman Reigns could have cut to make things a bit more interesting; a complaint that has only grown louder as fans have more time to get the match to ruminate.
Discussing the entire SummerSlam card on his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff revealed that, in his opinion, the match left him bored, as it simply didn't elicit the emotional response he was looking for.
“I like this match less than I liked the previous match, the women’s match. I just – I was disappointed. Because my expectations. And part of it might have been, and maybe that’s kind of the reaction that the audience – you know, the expectations have been so high for anything Bloodline-related, because it’s been so awesome for so long. This wasn’t. This was maintenance. This didn’t advance anything in my opinion. Technically it did, on paper it did. Okay, you can argue that if you want online if you have nothing else to do with your life, you can debate that. But for me, just in terms of emotion and interest and reaction. My visceral response is, I was bored. I did not enjoy this match at all. Nothing about it made me look forward to Monday Night Raw or SmackDown on Friday night. It was just – I mean, I get why people are saying, ‘Oh, it feels like it could be 1999, 2000 nWo, because it didn’t move the needle. It checked a couple of boxes, but it did not move an emotional needle whatsoever, for me,” Eric Bischoff said via 411 Mania.
“Now, in a month I could be looking back and go, ‘God, that was a dumb thing to say. ’cause look what they’re doing now! It all makes sense.’ But as it stands right now, I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I’ve been talking this Bloodline story up for months. I told everybody that — and I mean it, and it still is true, the Bloodline storyline is by far and away the best story that’s been crafted for professional wrestling in any of our lifetimes. That’s it. You can debate it if you want. you can troll if you want. I don’t really give a f**k. But this one let me down. It was slow. It was just – you know, the chairs under the ring and the tables, and oh my God. Can we find any other cheaper, easier way out of trying to actually create emotion? It’s just, eh. I was so disappointed. Really was, I wish I’d been in the middle of the show instead of the end of the show. Because then we would’ve forgotten about it.”
So, if Bischoff feels as though The Bloodline's storyline is getting stale, what would he do to make it work better? Fortunately, the WCW legend did have some insight on that very topic that is certainly interesting, considering the context.
Eric Bischoff explains how he would supercharge Roman Reigns' storyline.
So how would Eric Bischoff make Roman Reigns' storyline interesting again? Well, by bringing back none other than Sami Zayn.
“I don’t know, maybe bring Sami [Zayn] back. Maybe Sami is the catalyst that Jey needs to find his spirit, his spine, his fire. Because if you could get a fired-up Jey? A confident Jey Uso, a hungry Jey Uso that’s not willing to back down. I’m trying to think of a parallel in another character that’s easy for people to see. And I can’t find it right now, but I’m not saying a ‘Stone Cold' Steve Austin-type character. Nut give me somebody that says, ‘F**k it, I’m not taking it anymore, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to beat you.’ And let’s watch that story. And maybe that’s, maybe that’s Sami. 'cause he’s gone out of the storyline now, he’s kind of forgotten about. Let Jey bring him back in and be a part of it. That would be my go-to if I was sitting in a meeting right now at Stanford and going, ‘Okay, now what do we do to try to bring this thing back to life , or bring more life into it?’ I’d like to have a conversation about bringing Sami into it.”
Whoa, should Sami Zayn go out and try to bring Jey back to the WWE? Could the duo link up since Kevin Owens on the shelf and work as a tag team against The Bloodline? If Paul “Triple H” Levesque wants to go down this path, he has the potential for some very compelling storytelling opportunities.
Follow Us
Subscribe