Roman Reign is off filming a movie while on ‘indefinite hiatus’ from WWE, but he’s remain a driving force behind The Bloodline both on television and behind the scenes.
Reigns’ world came crashing down at WrestleMania 40. Once thought to be invincible, his historic title reign is finished and The Bloodline has undergone a dramatic shakeup. Jimmy Uso is out, Tama Tonga is in and Solo Sikoa is the group’s new on-screen figurehead.
We later learned Tribal Chief made the call for Jimmy to be removed, a sign of how his character will be kept in the mix while he’s off TV. According to WWE insider Wrestlevotes, Reigns “will still have substantial creative input in the evolving Bloodline storyline over the course of the next few months.
The Bloodline’s Creative Process
Roman Reigns’ creative direction has been closely guarded since his evolution into the Tribal Chief and the rise of The Bloodline. the Bloodline chapter of his career started. Only a select few people have been involved in the Bloodline’s storyline development and that number is even smaller with Vince McMahon’s departure.
The Rock brought in Brian Gewirtz during his road to WrestleMania 40 for the Final Boss storyline. Since the show of shows is in the rearview mirror, Dwayne Johnson and his writer went back to Hollywood.
Paul Heyman recently spoke about The Bloodline with Jimmy Traina on the SI Media podcast. The ‘Wise Man’ says one of their keys to success is their ‘collaborative teamwork’ approach.
“You know the old expression, ‘it takes a team?’ It certainly has with us. There are a lot of people who have worked really hard to make this work. It kind of all filters through Roman Reigns’ field. There are several people that come to me to present things to Roman, and then Roman and I will talk about it and comeback with either something that fits into their narrative or something that we would hope, we could perhaps enhance it or put it in our own words, or come back with, ‘that doesn’t work for us, what about this?’ and start a different process and we’re bouncing ideas off of them.”
Heyman said creative rumblings for the Bloodline storyline began under Vince McMahon’s leadership and continued without disruption when Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over.
He also praised Michael Hayes for his exceptional ability to weave a narrative into wrestling matches, a rare and valuable skill. The SmackDown writing team, led by the often overlooked Ryan Callahan, along with Michael Kirshenbaum, Chad Barbash, and Zach Hyatt, are also involved in these discussions