{"id":186332,"date":"2023-01-14T07:33:02","date_gmt":"2023-01-14T07:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/smackdown-recap-reactions-jan-13-2023-the-bloodlines-pawn\/"},"modified":"2023-01-14T07:33:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-14T07:33:02","slug":"smackdown-recap-reactions-jan-13-2023-the-bloodlines-pawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/smackdown-recap-reactions-jan-13-2023-the-bloodlines-pawn\/","title":{"rendered":"SmackDown recap & reactions (Jan. 13, 2023): The Bloodline’s pawn"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sami Zayn was tasked with taking out Kevin Owens on this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown, an order given straight from Roman Reigns himself. He found out shortly into the show, from none other than Paul Heyman, that he would be going it alone, as the rest of The Bloodline wasn’t even in the building.<\/p>\n

And so he went it alone, and he certainly appeared to be giving it his all, and his all was sure looking like it was going to deliver a victory. But right when he was setting up for the Helluva Kick, the dogs were unleashed, with Jimmy, Jey, and Solo Sikoa hitting the ring to force a disqualification going after Owens.<\/p>\n

Zayn seemed confused and a bit displeased. Again, it felt very much like he was eager to prove himself.<\/p>\n

My read on this is that this was just another example of The Bloodline not actually accepting Zayn in the way he wants. They could have trusted him to get things done himself, and they didn’t. Instead, he feels more like a pawn here, the guy they sent in to get beat up to weaken Owens so they could run in and pick at the scraps right at the end.<\/p>\n

There’s no triumph for Sami here.<\/p>\n

They lift him up, and then they tear him down just so they can lift him back up again. He is in the cycle of manipulation and perhaps this was the night he finally started to see it for himself, after hearing Owens try to explain it to him multiple times now.<\/p>\n

There’s still room to wiggle, though, and it seems clear they aren’t quite ready for the breakup just yet. But this was another good story beat.<\/p>\n

I’m for damn sure staying tuned.<\/p>\n


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I’m giving this its own space because sometimes I really do enjoy when Bray Wyatt is given the chance to just get in the ring and speak like only Bray Wyatt can.<\/p>\n

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