On the latest episode of his “83 Weeks” podcast, Eric Bischoff shared his candid assessment of the Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso match at SummerSlam 2023, expressing disappointment with its pacing and lack of emotional resonance.
Discussing why the match was underwhelming at best and failed to advance much of anything, Bischoff said,
“I like this match less than I liked the previous match, the women’s match. I just — I was disappointed. Because my expectations. And part of it might have been, and maybe that’s kind of the reaction that the audience — you know, the expectations have been so high for anything Bloodline-related, because it’s been so awesome for so long. This wasn’t. This was maintenance. This didn’t advance anything in my opinion. Technically it did, on paper it did. Okay, you can argue that if you want online if you have nothing else to do with your life, you can debate that. But for me, just in terms of emotion and interest and reaction. My visceral response is, I was bored. I did not enjoy this match at all. Nothing about it made me look forward to Monday Night Raw or SmackDown on Friday night. It was just — I mean, I get why people are saying, ‘Oh, it feels like it could be 1999, 2000 nWo, because it didn’t move the needle. It checked a couple of boxes, but it did not move an emotional needle whatsoever, for me.”
While Bischoff praised The Bloodline saga as one of the greatest stories ever told in professional wrestling and acknowledged that WWE can bounce back from a momentary lapse, the fact remains that their affair at a show of the magnitude of SummerSlam will nonetheless remain a major disappointment. He said,
“Now, in a month I could be looking back and go, ‘God, that was a dumb thing to say. ’cause look what they’re doing now! It all makes sense.’ But as it stands right now, I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I’ve been talking this Bloodline story up for months. I told everybody that — and I mean it, and it still is true, the Bloodline storyline is by far and away the best story that’s been crafted for professional wrestling in any of our lifetimes. That’s it. You can debate it if you want, you can troll if you want. I don’t really give a f**k. But this one let me down. It was slow. It was just — you know, the chairs under the ring and the tables, and oh my God. Can we find any other cheaper, easier way out of trying to actually create emotion? It’s just, eh. I was so disappointed. Really was, I wish I’d been in the middle of the show instead of the end of the show. Because then we would’ve forgotten about it.”
Bischoff also offered a suggestion to rejuvenate The Bloodline storyline, proposing that the return of Sami Zayn could inject renewed vigor into Jey Uso’s character, potentially igniting a dynamic shift in the narrative’s trajectory. He stated,
“I don’t know, maybe bring Sami [Zayn] back. Maybe Sami is the catalyst that Jey needs to find his spirit, his spine, his fire. Because if you could get a fired-up Jey? A confident Jey Uso, a hungry Jey Uso that’s not willing to back down. I’m trying to think of a parallel in another character that’s easy for people to see. And I can’t find it right now, but I’m not saying a ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin type character. But give me somebody that says, ‘F**k it, I’m not taking it anymore, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to beat you.’ And let’s watch that story. And maybe that’s, maybe that’s Sami. ’cause he’s gone out of the storyline now, he’s kind of forgotten about. Let Jey bring him back in and be a part of it. That would be my go-to if I was sitting in a meeting right now at Stanford and going, ‘Okay, now what do we do to try to bring this thing back to life, or bring more life into it?’ I’d like to have a conversation about bringing Sami into it.”
