WWE's plan for Bloodline's title reign finally confirmed following Jacob Fatu's injury at SummerSlam

There was a lot of confusion about what Jacob Fatu's injury at SummerSlam meant for The Bloodline as they had just become WWE Tag Team Champions. At a Live Event, it seems like the issue was resolved and WWE's plan was confirmed.

On the episode of SmackDown before SummerSlam, Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu defeated DIY to become WWE Tag Team Champions, bringing gold back to The Bloodline after months. The previous week in the gauntlet match, Fatu replaced Tonga Loa, whose eye was injured due to an attack from Kevin Owens. However, just one night later at SummerSlam, Fatu seemingly injured himself and was out until the August 16 episode of SmackDown.

Despite this, it was confirmed in the WWE Live Event in Lakeland (first reported by WrestleTalk) that The Bloodline will be operating with The Freebird rule. This means that when needed, Tonga Loa will step up and is officially a champion as of now.

The Freebird rule is something that several teams have followed in the past. The New Day have done it before and even Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, and Luke Harper applied that rule during their brief run as SmackDown Tag Team Champions in late 2016/early 2017.

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Jacob Fatu will be back for The Bloodline's title defense next week

The Street Profits defeated DIY in an excellent match on SmackDown to become the number-one contender for the WWE Tag Team Title. They will be facing Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu.

It was partially spoiled by WWE in the match graphics that Fatu would be returning because he hadn't come back just yet. However, right as SmackDown was ending, Fatu returned and made a big impact as he always does - this time at Roman Reigns' expense.

This marked their first official interaction as Fatu was carefully kept away from Roman Reigns in the main event of SummerSlam when The Tribal Chief returned.

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