Before Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes agreed to team up and face The Bloodline at Bad Blood, the two WWE Superstars were fierce rivals. Reigns and Rhodes faced each other on two occasions, both registering a win each.
However, it’s important to note that along with Cody Rhodes, The Original Tribal Chief also shares history with Cody’s father and legendary wrestler, Dusty Rhodes. The American Dream had a great influence on Reigns’ career during the latter’s early days.
Last year, before his match at WrestleMania 39, Roman Reigns gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he credited Dusty Rhodes for instilling confidence in him. The former Undisputed WWE Universal Champion said:
“He’s [Dusty Rhodes] critical early on as far as instilling confidence. He saw the man I would become opposed to what I was looking at in the mirror. I’ve lived with that and carried that with me anytime I have doubts.”
At WWE Bad Blood, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes will put their differences aside in a bid to overcome Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu. Once the match is over, it will be interesting to see if Reigns and Rhodes develop a friendship or a newfound respect.
Real-life Bloodline member revealed why last week’s promo on SmackDown must have triggered old memories for Roman Reigns
On the September 20 edition of SmackDown, WWE aired a promo between Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes, which was directed by Paul Heyman and shot inside the Georgia Tech stadium. This segment saw Reigns and Rhodes speak about their differences with each other.
However, in the end, they agreed to keep their differences aside and work together. While the promo was widely appreciated by the WWE Universe, real-life Bloodline member, Afa Anoa’i, explained why the promo must have triggered old memories for The Original Tribal Chief.
During an episode of Sportskeeda Wrestling’s Enter The Bloodline, Anoa’i said:
“Once upon a time back when we were in high school and college, myself and Roman Reigns were both Division One football players. I was a US Army All-American. I chose to play ball [at] University of Connecticut, Roman went to Georgia Tech. Our freshman year, 2004, Yukon played at Georgia Tech. So it was Anoa’i vs. Anoa’i back in 2004 in that stadium. That just got put back on the map because of the promo.” [From 22:43 onwards]
You can check out his comments in the video below:
At WWE Bad Blood, it will be interesting to see if Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes can come together and beat the Solo Sikoa-led Bloodline. If not, then Sikoa and Jacob Fatu will take advantage and a scenario like that could be dangerous for Reigns and Rhodes.