Roman Reigns Needs The Title to Finish His Story, He’s Lost Everything Else

The Roman Reigns story enters its next chapter but for many, it’s high time that it ends. 

It seems most WWE fans agree that Roman Reigns should have lost to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 39, and the end of the Bloodline didn’t need a world title. That is different from the booking we got, however, and heading into and out of SummerSlam this past weekend, it is clear that Roman Reigns needs the title to finish his story. Despite his villainy as the leader of the Bloodline, Roman has been the main character of WWE Smackdown for years. His story is a tragedy; even though it is highly anticipated, fans know how it ends. Roman is going to lose everything. It won’t just be his career or accolades, although that may happen also. Roman is going to lose his family.

Following a SummerSlam main event with a mixed reaction, The Bloodline is heading into a story without a title or Roman Reigns. That may be evidence that WWE doesn’t need a title for Roman Reigns, but it may mean the opposite. Instead, this story has gone so well that its star attraction is a spare part, an extra for a far more exciting play on Smackdown. Imagine a world where The Bloodline is already done with Roman Reigns, where the story of three brothers takes center stage on Fridays, leaving him behind. You don’t need to imagine much, as it is the world of WWE today. Roman is already out of the Bloodline and doesn’t know it yet. That is why he needs the world title to finish his story and complete his tragic fall.

Jey is The Bloodline’s Heart

Jey started the Bloodline. Without his “main event” Jey Uso feud, The Bloodline of the past three years would not exist. Although it was under Roman Reign’s leadership, Jey is forever a founding faction member. The ending of SummerSlam saw Jey feuding with not one but both of his brothers. The Uso brotherhood has recently been the main thrust of the drama. Family is essential to Roman, but brothers are often an entirely different sort of close both in wrestling and real life. Brothers are often best friends and bitter rivals, sometimes simultaneously.

Roman Reigns isn’t an Uso, and he has never been. The family drama that has made The Bloodline work now lies almost exclusively in Jimmy, Jey, and Solo. Jey brought Jimmy and, to a lesser extent, Solo into their current predicament. Losing his cousin may sting, but losing his brothers is beyond that. The ending of Tribal Combat may have left a lot to be desired; having the three brothers on three separate sides is the next logical step. Jey, as The Bloodline’s emotion, will fight his brothers to save them from themselves. He will try and bring his family back together by force if need be. Roman may factor into it again someday, but the Uso brothers’ Bloodline doesn’t need their cousin much. Without the title, they don’t need him at all.

Solo and Paul are The Bloodline’s Arms

Solo Sikoa and the Wise Man Paul Heyman have grown to be relatively close as the enforcers of The Bloodline. In all of Roman Reigns’ breaks, his will is done through his counsel Heyman and his muscle in Solo Sikoa. On most shows, especially in the past few months, Solo has been fighting for Roman’s tribe while the chief sits back and waits for the big fights. When the brothers collide in the aftermath of SummerSlam, Solo will be without his leader. He will be left alone with Heyman and a conflicted view of his place amongst his family.

Roman started the Bloodline with a sense of brutality. He often escalated his beatdowns to make a statement and build up his presence as a dominant figure in WWE’s main event scene. Since Clash at the Castle, though, Solo has been his private brutalizer. The violence that has become a hallmark of The Bloodline is carried out almost exclusively by his young cousin. He and Paul Heyman will represent The Bloodline in Roman’s absence and show they can be equally dangerous without Reigns calling the shots. The strong arm of the Bloodline will remain a constant on television, and they no longer need the leader to flex it. Roman needs the world title because he’s no longer the badest member of his faction; he’s not the most violent and dangerous. The title protects him from the monster of his creation and gives people a reason to come for Roman still when a fresher young beast of a superstar is on the card.

Jimmy is The Bloodline’s Core

With each moment of the Bloodline story, Jimmy Uso is the instigator. He brought the traitor Sami Zayn into the fold, got Jey back into the tribe, started the civil war, and shockingly kicked off this next phase of the story at SummerSlam. Early criticism of that last decision may prove warranted, but the broader point remains. Jimmy has long been the piece on which the story hinges. From years ago, as the battered brother that forced Jey into compliance or his recent betrayal, nothing happens in this story without Jimmy holding it up.

With Roman gone, Jimmy will cause his brother’s strife. Not fully aligned with anyone, his path could be clearer and, frankly, could ruin the entire story if WWE isn’t careful. A shock for the sake has buried several superstars and even promotions in the graveyard of wrestling history. Although his turn is seemingly out of character, his serving as the catalyst for conflict is very on-brand. Maybe Jey wants revenge, or perhaps he wants his brother back. Either way, Jimmy will be the reason for their fighting. Roman Reigns will not. When the Bloodline finally implodes, Roman will be left alone. WWE has made it impossible to see Roman Reigns as anything but dominant, and without the title right now, he would be unrecognizable. The story doesn’t revolve around him any longer, and the title is what is keeping his spotlight on.

Just the Head- Roman Reigns Needs The Title to Finish His Story

Roman is just the head of an increasingly shrinking table. Jey makes fans feel, Solo, gives them fear, and Jimmy holds it together. Upon his return, Roman Reigns will likely see the chaos that not even he can control. His family, but not entirely his own, will be torn apart by his quest for power. What the Uso’s are doing by Wrestlemania 40 is anyone’s guess, but all of them know one truth, Roman Reigns is the cause of their problems. The only thing tying Roman to these three is that his title is the reason for their dysfunction. When he returns, it won’t be to a supportive tribe, but instead, three bitter challengers looking to take from him something even half as valuable as what they lost at his hands. The likelihood is that Roman will win that match against his cousins. When the Bloodline implodes, and each Uso takes their shots on Reigns, he will weather the storm and hold onto the title with all he has. However, he will be alone, with only a belt of gold to show for his years of dominance.

Roman Reigns needs the title to finish his story at this point because his story is a tragedy. The story of Roman is one of greed and loss. The king of a wrestling empire loses everything to ambition until an equally ambitious royal from a faraway land marches in and takes his crown, dispatching the once-great man. If Cody had won and finished his story last year, they could have told us about a family on the outside trying to re-establish their dominance and losing faith in one another over time until a new leader is made. WWE opted not to tell us about the fall of Roman Reigns as leader of the Bloodline. Instead, we got the death of WWE’s king, Roman Reigns. There won’t be a new bloodline for the next generation, just shattered remnants of a once great family and faction. There isn’t a future for this tribe, and to tell a story as tragically haunting as that, he needs the title with nothing else left. That belt becomes his hollow crown, the only reminder of his former stature, a parody of the power he displayed as he sits alone on his sinking island of relevancy, unaware that his subjects are starting to stare.