Tribal Chief Jimmy Uso Screws Roman Reigns

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn retained the WWE Undiaputed Tag Team Titles at WWE Night of Champions 2023.

The climactic finish came when Jimmy Uso defiantly super kicked Roman Reigns twice and escaped with a conflicted Jey Uso after Reigns pie-faced The Usos similar to his falling out with Sami Zayn at this year’s Royal Rumble. Solo Sikoa took the pinfall as Reigns was furious to end the show.

Losing has been foreign to Roman Reigns since his now-historic world championship win at Payback 2020. But even in face of legitimate questions of if they’ve overstayed their welcome, The Bloodline continues to deliver. This time, WWE is giving the ball to Jimmy Uso. Jimmy in the spotlight helps freshen up The Bloodline since he spent the majority of WrestleMania season as a supporting character.

The Usos’ masterpiece of a WrestleMania feud was just as much about Sami’s complicated relationship with Jey Uso as it was about the tag team titles. Jimmy Uso was basically the Kevin Owens of the Usos.

Fast forward to Friday on SmackDown, Jimmy Uso is now challenging Reigns as the alpha of The Bloodline. Jimmy refused to take a seat at the behest of Roman Reigns, then in the main event segment, Jimmy declared himself the Tribal Chief. This was a mirror-image of twin brother Jey, from six months ago, screaming “man, I don’t give a damn about what the Tribal Chief say [sic]!” in the presence of Roman Reigns.

This was the same Jimmy Uso who returned to The Bloodline in wearing a passive-aggressive t-shirt that read “Nobody’s Bitch.”

This time, Jey is in the role of peacemaker. It was Jey Uso who diffused the tense backstage situation on SmackDown, then Jey convinced Jimmy to hand over the tag team titles to Reigns. For those who think the Bloodline could run out of steam by WrestleMania 40—and it might—Jimmy Usos’ antihero journey has at least three compelling months of storytelling.

Between a possible Bloodline tag team match and/or a singles match against Reigns, It’s Jimmy Uso’s turn to be Rafael of The Bloodline. All the while, Solo Sikoa remains waiting in the wings.