Roman Reigns Had Reservations About Beating Jey Uso Into The Bloodline

Roman Reigns' legendary reign at the top of WWE has gone on for nearly three years, and although his most formidable challenge yet awaits tomorrow night on Night 2 of WrestleMania, his most personal challenge came right at the beginning. In his first defense of his Universal Championship, Reigns defended against his cousin, Jey Uso. The matches between the two were praised for their storytelling and for Reigns' then-fresh work as a heel. But in an interview with The Associated Press, Reigns revealed he wasn't sure about "beating [Jey] into The Bloodline."

"When these ideas in real time started happening, it became a chain reaction, a domino effect," Reigns told the Associated Press. "It's been like an onion, peeling open, left and right, these awesome opportunities and different rabbit holes to dive down with these different characters we've involved."

Hindsight being 20-20, it's clear that Reigns' set of increasingly emotional matches with Jey propelled his heel character to a level he might not have reached as quickly as he did. The slow submission of Jey and eventually Jimmy Uso to Reigns' will made for compelling character work for all three men, and set the table for the epic Bloodline storyline that culminates tonight and tomorrow. The Usos will be defending their Undisputed Tag Team Championships on Saturday at Night 1 of WrestleMania 39 against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. The a match that could potentially become the first-ever tag team Mania main event. Reigns, of course, will defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against the winner of the 2023 Royal Rumble, Cody Rhodes, in the main event of WrestleMania's Night 2.