Hot Take: Roman Reigns’ Alliance With Cody Rhodes Will Ruin The Bloodline Storyline

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There were so many interesting possible ways for WWE to steer The Bloodline saga with Roman Reigns in the lead and Cody Rhodes still involved that kept things captivating.

Until recently, when WWE seemingly stumbled into the worst possible route.

Reigns returned from an absence over the course of the last week and in an effort to fight against Solo Sikoa and the new Bloodline…signed on to tag team with Rhodes at the upcoming Bad Blood PLE.

To say the decision feels underwhelming would be an understatement. Reigns could have started his redemption tour by reuniting with Jey Uso or Jimmy Uso. Paul Heyman is missing in action. Heck, even an encounter with Sami Zayn would have been a lot of fun.

Instead, fans are left with this archaic-feeling “bitter rivals forced to team up with each other” thing that feels like a relic of the Vince McMahon-era booking, not this new golden era put forth by Triple H.

And the execution hasn’t helped. Reigns returned and is still mostly a cocky heel. But he also apparently seems to think he needs help, and rather than seek it out via interesting ways, he simply resorts to teaming with the guy who ended his historic title reign.

Rhodes, yet again, seemed to lack common sense. His proclaiming he was done with Bloodline stuff to putting his signature on a paper to team with Reigns against the Bloodline just a few minutes later reeked of that time Brock Lesnar randomly appeared as his teammate and he fell for it, while everyone on Earth seemed to know a betrayal was coming but him.

At this point, it almost feels like WWE isn’t sure what to do with Rhodes. He’s been largely spinning his wheels as a “welcome all challengers” good guy since his big win at ‘Mania, and his feuds have lacked a distinct edge or personal quality to them—something made all the more apparent when comparing it to the blood feud between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre right now.

Honestly, it isn’t all that new with Rhodes, either. When he’s stuck wiuthout a major thing to do until the next big setpiece PLE, it’s far worse and obvious than with Reigns because he doesn’t have a grand storyline like the Bloodline around him. Were he not still riding a wave of overness with fans, he’d likely be getting the same treatment a recent champion like Seth Rollins received due to overexposure.

Remember roughly a year ago when Rhodes and Jey Uso won the tag team titles? Exactly. This feels like that.

It’s an especially harsh direction for things to take when looking at the possibilities for Reigns. Heyman could have come back to consult him. He could start mending the burned bridges with one of the Usos. That role of saving someone from a beatdown at the hands of Sikoa and the Bloodline could have been used to save Jey and really make things interesting, not Rhodes.

Plus, for as much as fans thought WWE might avoid Reigns getting physical with Jacob Fatu for the sake of a massive-money match down the road, well, here it is instead in a tag match at a filler-feeling PLE.

Maybe this doesn’t end up as inconsequential filler. If WWE is smart, there’s zero chance Reigns and Rhodes actually play nice as a team and get a win, especially while outnumbered. Maybe Randy Orton takes major issue with Rhodes teaming with the guy who gaslit his own family into obedience and betrays him to set up future feuds.

But that would take WWE being willing to get Rhodes away from the Bloodline right now and let him fly on his own some more while Reigns handles his business. Perhaps they can’t because the idea is to slowly build that hypothetical future ‘Mania where one of them takes on The Rock, who still hovers in the background as an interesting heel character possibly pulling puppet strings.

The stench of the forced team-up, though, won’t leave no matter what. And if there isn’t an absolutely impeccable plan to progress multiple narratives at once, this might be the point in hindsight that everyone can look back on and agree that the Bloodline shark has, indeed, been jumped.

WWE has shocked in a good way before, of course. But this feels like the very worst type of Vince-styled autopilot booking for a quiet part of the calendar before things kick back up next year for ‘Mania season (and Raw going to Netflix and Smackdown to USA Network).

The onus is on WWE to prove this thought process wrong because, as it stands, a Reigns-Rhodes team used to be a punchline about what the worst options to move forward were when it comes to the Bloodline.