Roman Reigns has earned high praise from fans and peers for his work as the Tribal Chief. Reigns has been invovled the top story since returning to WWE at WWE SummerSlam 2020 during the pandemic era after stepping away when the pandemic first began.
The Bloodline storyline with Reigns, Paul Heyman, and the Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) has dominated WWE programming with Solo Sikoa and Sami Zayn playing big roles throughout the end of 2022 and into 2023.
Speaking to Jimmy Traina on the SI Media podcast, Heyman detailed the creative process behind the storyline.
"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. When I say 'them,' the thing with Sami started when Vince (McMahon) was still running creative, so it started under Vince McMahon's creative regime. it was a seamless transition to Paul Levesque [Triple H]. There are times when we're sitting in the room and it's Roman, me, the Usos, and one of the Usos, will just say, 'You know what would be really good with Sami?' 'Oh my God, why aren't we doing that already?' You'll find things that come from the Usos that would shock you, just how great they are. There is Michael Hayes. He has an understanding about telling a story within the body of a match that very few in history could ever claim to be on par with. The SmackDown writing team, which is led by Ryan Callahan, who is an unsung hero in what we've put together. Ryan Callahan and his team. Michael Kirshenbaum, who you never hear about. On a week to week basis, along with a gentleman named Chad Barbash, Zach Hyatt, there are all people who will come and sit in a room with us or on Roman's bus or on a conference call and we'll throw around ideas. 'What resonates with you? You have teenage kids, this story of acceptance, what tales are they telling from the cafeteria at lunch time in high school?' It's really a team and a lot of unsung heroes and a lot of people you don't read about online because they very intentionally keep their names out of the headlines, who have worked their asses off to put this together," said Heyman.
Heyman continued by saying, "Sami has had a big voice in it too, and rightfully so, he's the person presenting the character. In terms of me just shooting down...with this group, there have not been a lot of ideas that I sit there and say, 'that's not even worth me reaching out for.' It's a pretty damn smart group. The people that I've mentioned don't just throw crap up against a wall and see what sticks. They vet their own ideas out. It's never just, 'Hey, I have this one little thing and one word,' there is a plan with anything that is presented to us. On the flip side, when we present to them, we always have a plan, 'this leads to this leads to this, which we call back on in a few weeks where the very same thing happens but it's the mirror image.' We try, everything that we do, we try to give meaning to, so that when it happens again, there is a story behind the action itself."
Heyman cited Roman handing Sami the chair at Royal Rumble and Roman handing Jey the chair at Elimination Chamber as an example of callbacks they've used in the story.
Sami is set to go one-on-one with Jimmy Uso on Monday's WWE Raw. Jey Uso has yet to choose a side in the war between Zayn and the Bloodline.
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