Tommy Dreamer says WWE has needed heels this badly for a long time, and that 946 burning the Bloodline’s car is exactly what he has been asking for.
Royce Keys, Bronco Nima and Lucien Price closed Monday’s Raw from Legacy Arena in Birmingham by laying out security in the parking lot, smashing up the Usos’ car, pouring gasoline into it and setting it alight while the Usos and Jacob Fatu watched on the screen from the ring. The Bloodline had called them out to the ring first. Jey Uso said they had been blindsided two weeks running and would not be a third time. The answer came on the big screen from the car park.
Dreamer talked it through on Busted Open After Dark.
“I have been screaming at the top of my lungs, WWE needs bad guys, and they have delivered with their bad guys,” Dreamer said. “This new group with Royce Keys and OTM, they are a solid faction, and they are showing that the Bloodline, which is one of the most famous, if not the most famous, factions in wrestling history, that these guys don’t mess around.”
He said the whole night was built on one thing.
“Birmingham, Alabama was all about heat, and it worked, because the more we heat up our heels, the more babyfaces are going to be cheered for once they come back to rally the troops,” Dreamer said.
He tied it directly to how the summer has looked.
“We say this all the time. When we say trust in the system, we’ve needed heels for a long time. SummerSlam was a lot of babyface versus babyface matches. Still a really packed house, really good show,” he said. “But when you’re establishing your heels, look, old school wrestling heels call the match, but heels dominate just to heat up your babyfaces. They need these people to continue to get over.”
The part he liked most was the friction it created inside the Bloodline, with Fatu telling Jimmy and Jey to hold off and let him call the play.
“Jacob is telling the narrative for Royce Keys and helping you understand Royce Keys’ character. He’s not afraid of him, but he has to approach him the right way,” Dreamer said. “This group is that dangerous that we’re going to all get together. Our babyfaces are going to rally around each other.”
He also reached for a comparison to place the segment.
“This had, like I said, very Attitude Era, very Ruthless Aggression Era,” Dreamer said. “Please correct me if I’m wrong. The last time I saw someone blow up a car on Monday Night Raw might be when they blew up Vince McMahon’s limo.”
Dreamer noted that the Birmingham crowd chanted for OTC while the car burned, calling for Roman Reigns, who was not in the building.
“I love that. I loved when they’re chanting for the guy that’s not there,” he said.
His one note was about what happens next week, and it was a joke about the paperwork.
“I straight up would pop huge if they just say it was my rental car, and now you just made my insurance go up,” Dreamer said. “I don’t have sympathy for a car.”
Dreamer also wants the situation to produce a call-up, and had a name for it.
“They may need another babyface,” Dreamer said, before landing on it. “I would love to see Zilla eventually get called up, because Zilla is quickly showing his charisma and getting over on NXT. Could he be added to this?”
His reasoning was about numbers. Dreamer had spent the segment arguing that 946 has a fourth person nobody has seen, since somebody drove the car in the previous week’s attack and somebody filmed the footage the group posted afterwards. He said Solo Sikoa tried and failed to recruit LA Knight earlier in the night, with Knight preferring to let the two sides fight and pick the bones after, which Dreamer called the smart move. Survivor Series and WarGames have been announced, which means both sides will need bodies.
Zilla Fatu is the son of Umaga and made his NXT debut a few months ago He was in the four-way at Heatwave where Grayson Waller won the NXT Championship.
946 began the run on the August 24 Raw by attacking the Usos, Solo Sikoa and LA Knight, then hit Jimmy, Jey and Sikoa in separate backstage attacks the following week. Keys named the group on September 4 in a video where he said it is not about family but about loyalty, which is the line the whole thing is built on given who they are attacking. WWE has filed to trademark the name. Roman Reigns put Jacob Fatu in charge of dealing with them while he handles LA Knight, which is why Fatu was the one telling the Usos to wait.
The reaction carried on after the broadcast. Jimmy took a microphone to answer the OTC chants once the show was off the air, and Jey told Fatu they cannot afford dissension in the group.
