Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn has revealed that his memorable involvement with The Bloodline evolved considerably beyond WWE’s original creative plans, with his unexpected chemistry with Jey Uso helping shape one of the company’s most popular storylines.
During a recent appearance on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet, Zayn reflected on his 2022 run alongside Roman Reigns and The Usos, explaining that the storyline’s success came partly from the willingness of everyone involved to adapt as new opportunities emerged.
According to Zayn, the initial concept was for him to remain on the outskirts of The Bloodline before eventually challenging Reigns for a championship. However, his interactions with the faction quickly developed into something more significant, particularly as his relationship with Jey Uso became an increasingly important part of the story.
“Well, that’s kind of what makes it work from the jump. That was in the conception of the idea; it’s so ridiculous, that’s part of the appeal of it. My intent in the beginning was more to be kind of like on the periphery, it evolved, and that’s part of the beauty of it. When I say part of the skill set, part of why I loved it so much is the week-to-week adaptation,” Zayn explained.
While Zayn had a general direction in mind, including an eventual championship match against Reigns, he emphasized that many of the storyline’s defining moments were not planned in advance. Instead, they developed naturally through the chemistry between performers and the ability to recognize when an unexpected development deserved more attention.
“I had some ideas and I had an overarching blueprint, which more or less kind of came to fruition, which starts here and ends in a championship match eventually down the road with Roman. That’s kind of the blueprint in your head, but some of the week-to-week stuff that you don’t account for, those are just gifts that fall into your lap, and then it’s playing with those gifts, and that’s that adaptability and the improvisational skills and the storytelling skills that I think are really what we do, or a crucial part of what we do, or a crucial part of being really good at what we do, is adapting to those things when they come to you, whether it’s in a match or whether it’s in a storyline. I know this was the plan, but hang on just a sec. Now we’ve got this thing with Jey, and you got to run with it because it’s interesting, and you hadn’t accounted for it ahead of time.”
Zayn believes that flexibility is an essential part of successful professional wrestling storytelling, whether it involves an individual match, a promotional segment, or a storyline unfolding over several months. He noted that similar situations have occurred during his more recent run as Undisputed WWE Champion, with unexpected developments creating opportunities to take stories in different directions.
“But now you’ve got this gift that fell from the heavens, and running with it. Sometimes that happens in matches, and sometimes it happens in promos, or a lot of times, what’s happened to me, especially most recently with this WWE title thing, is it’s happened in kind of overarching storytelling, where yeah, I know this wasn’t where we were going, but hang on a sec. This is really interesting, and we should probably elaborate on this.”
Zayn’s association with The Bloodline eventually reached its breaking point at the 2023 Royal Rumble, when he refused Reigns’ orders to attack Kevin Owens and instead struck The Tribal Chief with a steel chair. The moment brought his time with the faction to an end and set the stage for his emotional championship challenge against Reigns at Elimination Chamber 2023 in Montreal.
More than three years later, Zayn and Reigns are preparing to meet again under dramatically different circumstances. Zayn is now the Undisputed WWE Champion, while Reigns holds the World Heavyweight Championship.
The two are scheduled to face each other in a Champion vs. Champion match at WWE Crown Jewel 2026 on November 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, adding another chapter to a rivalry that began with one of WWE’s most memorable Bloodline storylines.
