Remember when Sami Zayn was a conspiracy madman running around aimlessly trying to convince anyone who would listen that WWE had him out? Now he’s the voice of reason, leaving him to be the only man willing to stand up to the great Paul Heyman Friday Night SmackDown This week he broke down all the methods Roman Reigns uses to gas and manipulate everyone in his family.

My God, how times have changed.

Meanwhile, they took the only path they could in terms of how to deal with the fact that Cody Rhodes is actually set to face Reigns for the title at WrestleMania – They made Zayn admit as much by saying “Tell Roman not to worry about him, I’ll take the titles off his hands before he gets that far.”

Hey, this is better than nothing. I’ll admit this would hurt a lot more if a Cody match wasn’t in sight, but it’s not the worst problem to have two shows hot as hell to mix up.

Then again, imagine how hard they could get through Sami’s emotional promo if they were really committed to it. But they can’t be.

What could it have been.

The other half of the split storyline within The Bloodline played out with The Usos. Jimmy couldn’t get over Jay, until all that time after that Royal Rumble. Even Heyman and Jimmy were left bickering a bit about how the others went and they didn’t even have each other’s backs.

Where was J?

There, as it turns out.

And wouldn’t you know it, he showed up to help defend the titles and made sure his brother was okay. Then he went and won the damn match, saving his brother along the way. Then he made it clear with his own words that he would always be there for Jimmy.

But what about Roman and the rest of the bloodline?

“I don’t know.”

Later, Ji runs into Sami backstage.

Zayn thanked him for what he did at the Royal Rumble, and gave his friend his best shot – we’re on to something special, Reigns goes down, Jey doesn’t have to go down with the ship. He wants this, deep in his heart, just as much and perhaps somehow more than Sammy does. The choice must be made.

Maybe not now.

Not soon.

Since they probably wouldn’t be able to speak again before the big moment, Sammy had to make the plea now. He had to make his case and hope for the best, and that was all that was left to do on his part.

“I appreciate you.”

He made a fist bump.

Ji was hesitant but eventually reciprocated.

Even later, Heyman tells Jimmy to stay home next week because “sometimes you see things on TV that you don’t see when you’re here live.”

actually.

Judicial Department I can’t get here soon enough.

all the rest

• Hit Row complained about the abuse to Adam Pearce prior to the show, so they were thrown into a match against the Banger Bros and Sheamus & Drew McIntyre, originally scheduled for a tag title contender tournament before the Banger Bros lost their spot just to chase after. Viking raiders. It still doesn’t make sense, especially since they decided to go through with this match here anyway. Hit Row was ruined, of course, and it couldn’t be cooler on the blue brand. We’re getting a Banger Bros vs. Viking Raiders next week.
• Lacey Evans is back this week, hitting up a local athlete who was there to put her as much as possible. That’s what happened as well, with Evans winning handily with the Cobra Handle. Fans love to hate it, and while they’re taking their time, there’s obvious potential here.
• Natalya called Shayna Baszler “Ronda Rousey”, which infuriated Baszler, who made sure everyone knew she was doing everything Rousey did even before Rousey did. This led to Rousey herself being knocked out, for the first time in weeks. Maybe a feud with Puzzler? no! They bonded over putting the shoe on Nattie, then Shotzi when she tried to hit the scene to save Natalya.
• Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green complained to management that they didn’t enter the women’s Elimination Chamber match, so they were thrown into a tag team match against two women who made it, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan. You don’t even need to tell you how it was done. It was fine the way it was. I don’t know how far they can get out of the “Karen” character but Green is great at doing it.
• Charlotte Flair got a backstage interview during her TV time this week and her message was to say that she taught Rhea Ripley a hard-earned lesson a few years ago. Now, all this time later, you’ll put it down. This was more in keeping with the old taste, and I didn’t hate to see this kind of fire from her after seeing her play so cute recently.
• Madcap Moss won the Fatal 4-Way match to become the number one contender to GUNTHER’s Intercontinental Championship, defeating Karrion Kross, Santos Escobar and Rey Mysterio. I’m so confused as to how this all happened – Moose winning at all, and the fact that he pinned Mysterio, who just beat Kross and potentially make a grand slam WrestleMania During the match, Escobar branches out and seemingly starts something with Kross and they both get protection. I’m not a fan of doing multi-person matches out of thin air to find new title contenders for this very reason. For that matter, Moss is still struggling to find his identity as anything other than a big asshole, and that’s even with Emma by his side. Next week is about to be a bloodbath.

Brand Blue always deserves your attention, and this week was no different. Another solid effort.

your thoughts?