Former WWE employee explains how Roman Reigns' opening segment on SmackDown could "carry everybody else" on the show (Exclusive)
Former WWE manager Dutch Mantell recently spoke about Roman Reigns and the rest of The Bloodline opening this week's SmackDown.
The show started with Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, and Paul Heyman walking down to the ring. Before The Tribal Chief could get in a few words, he was interrupted by the Undisputed Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. In the war of words that ensued, Zayn made it clear that Roman was not taking away the titles from him and KO at Night of Champions. Just then, The Usos jumped the champs and launched an unprovoked attack. The Tribal Chief was irate with this and stormed out of the ring.
On Smack Talk this week, the wrestling veteran detailed that the interest in the Bloodline story was dying down after WrestleMania, and WWE has done a great job of getting it back up. Mantell mentioned that the opening segment of SmackDown was the highlight of the show and rated it very highly.
"Now the interest is at a high level and they're keeping it there. So I'd have to give this first segment a nine-and-a-half. I don't think they could've made it any better. I really don't."
Mantell detailed how Roman Reigns' angle would also help other storylines on the show.
"Sometimes you only need that one hot angle to carry everybody else. The beauty to that is when you have people watching the Bloodline angle, now they're gonna watch the other stuff. They're gonna see the girls, they're gonna see this, they're gonna see that. Once you got eyeballs on the product, it's easy to get interest on other angles between guys." [From 30:33 to 31:54]
You can watch the full video here:
You can catch the full results of SmackDown here.
Roman Reigns lashed out at The Usos backstage
After The Usos carried out the attack on Sami and Kevin, Roman Reigns was in a bad mood. In a backstage segment, The Tribal Chief confronted his cousins, asking them why they attacked the champs without his permission.
Boy, Roman is PISSED. 😬
#SmackDown #WWE https://t.co/s6JU16sakw
Reigns claimed that he was the reason why The Bloodline was able to sustain its run at the top of the mountain. The Head of the Table explained that he had some things to say to Zayn and Owens before Jimmy and Jey attacked them.
What do you think of these new developments within The Bloodline? Let us know in the comments section below.
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