Note: Spoilers will come quick, thick and fast in this review. You have been warned!

In my review of last September’s UK WWE event, Clash at the Castle, I lamented how frustrating the dominance of Roman Reigns had become. WWE had painted themselves into an ever smaller corner, trying their best to protect both their part time champion and whoever was next in line to challenge him, for fear of weakening any pretenders to the throne – or the king himself.

Mostly, they’ll do this with overbooked match endings, featuring a downed ref spot, his cousins running in to help him and the challenger successfully pinning Reigns without a ref to count.

It got tiresome, repetitive and incredibly predictable.

Yet WWE seemed to stumble upon an element that injected fresh life into the storyline of Reigns and The Bloodline, as he and his real-life family members are known in WWE.

That element was former indie wrestling star, current WWE wrestler Sami Zayn.

Zayn had flown under my radar for a bit, until last year when he feuded somewhat improbably with Johnny Knoxville, as a promotional tool for the supposedly final Jackass movie.

That feud culminated in a match at last year’s Wrestlemania that was ten times better and more entertaining than it should have been, with Zayn and Knoxville putting on a slapstick, Tom and Jerry style routine that was daft, hilarious and unbelievably fun.

Since then, Zayn’s prominence rose to the point that he was brought in as an honorary member of The Bloodline – and his weekly antics, trying to make the other members break character and laugh, was an absolute joy to watch, week in, week out.

That led to some great stories with Sami’s loyalty being tested by an increasingly paranoid Reigns; the first cracks in The Bloodline starting to show as Jey Uso – brother of Jimmy Uso and the youngest member, Solo Sikoa – was torn between his friendship with Sami and loyalty to the family.

Sami finally turned on Roman when he was asked to deliver his part of a brutal beatdown on his former best friend, Kevin Owens, after Reigns beat him in a on on one fight.

Sami then faced Roman; with interference and assistance, again, Reigns triumphed.

Meanwhile, returning from injury was second generation wrestler Cody Rhodes – who secured himself a spot to be next in line to challenge Reigns.

Again, Reigns remained on top – though again, not without assistance.

Cody has been embroiled in a feud with monster Brock Lesnar ever since; this is seen as a way for Cody to prove he can dominate against even the biggest threats – and is likely to help pave his route back to challenging Reigns.

Sami Zayn reunited with Kevin Owens to win the tag team belts from the long-dominant Usos the night before Reigns beat Cody – leading Reigns to express disappointment (to put it mildly) with Jimmy and Jey losing the belts.

So Reigns told the Usos the belts would be coming back to The Bloodline, but they wouldn’t be taking them – instead , Reigns teamed up with Solo Sikoa against Zayn and Owens at the Night of Champions.

Before we get there, there were plenty of other matches at the Night of Champions.

It opened with AJ Styles vs Seth Rollins for a new World Heavyweight Championship belt, which – despite WWE trying to push it as a legitimately big deal – still feels like an awkward way to get around the problem of Reigns barely wrestling any more, yet being in possession of both of WWE’s main brand belts.

For whatever reason, Styles vs Rollins felt a little off. There were some great moments, but perhaps it’s just the obvious consolation prize of the belt itself – there wasn’t much here that’ll linger in the mind. Rollins won, but it remains to be seen whether or not there’ll be much buzz around this belt or any excitement in the chase for it.

Up next, Becky Lynch (who happens to be married to Rollins) fought one of her heroes, the Hall of Famer Trish Stratus. Stratus dominated most of this match and put in a performance worthy of someone easily half her age – though she won with somewhat unnecessary assistance from Zoey Stark (who was hidden under the ring, an oft used and always amusing wrestling trope), she was on her way to a victory anyway, it seemed. This was a good back and forth battle though.

Mustafa Ali took on Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship. Gunther’s reputation for hard-hitting, very physical matches is well earned – and he chopped his way to a victory over Ali this time, in a satisfyingly brutal and brilliantly paced fight. Ali was truly elevated here; though he’s never been someone I’ve kept a close eye on, he put on a great performance here against Gunther – who’s held the Intercontinental Championship longer than anyone else this century…so far.

Face painted Japanese wrestler Asuka took on uber-goodie Bianca Belair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship belt in a fun fight that showcased the style of both competitors brilliantly. Asuka scoring victory by rubbing her mystical blue mist goo in Belair’s eyes may have been a dirty win, but the crowd went nuts and so did I; Belair had held the title for over a year and it felt like Asuka’s time.

Gothic queen Rhea Ripley took on legendary Natalya for the Raw Womens Championship next – and this was basically a squash match. For the uninitiated, a squash match is where one wrestler utterly dominates the other and wins with ease, very quickly – which is exactly what happened here. It felt a little mean to have this happen on Natalya’s birthday – and we know how dominant Ripley is already, so it’s not as if she has to prove it – but it was a legitimately amusing surprise that this was over and done in such a short time.

The aforementioned Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar fought next, with Rhodes injured from his last encounter with Lesnar. Supposedly he had a broken arm – and much was made of him being able to use his ‘titanium’ cast to help him in his struggle against Lesnar. Yet Lesnar was too dominant – and Rhodes ‘passed out’ to lose, so he wasn’t pinned and couldn’t submit. It was fine and much better than I expected – but the Cody/Brock feud already feels a bit tiresome. We can expect a third match to complete the trilogy, which Cody will undoubtedly win.

Which brings us back to Zayn, Owens, Reigns and Sikoa. The Saudi Arabian crowd had, in fairness, been electric throughout – but they were absolutely on fire for thus particular match. It didn’t disappoint either, with all of the drama and shenanigans we have come to expect from a Reigns main event – albeit with a few twists to truly elevate it. After confusion led to Jey and Jimmy USO accidentally taking down Sikoa, Reigns admonished them in typically physical style. Jimmy, finally being sick of his treatment at his cousin’s hands, turned on Reigns and took him down not once, but twice – in two sequences that were played for maximum drama and satisfaction, to the delight of the crowd and viewers all over the world.

Zayn and Owens retained their belts after an absolutely electrifying finishing sequence; this was long term storytelling, brilliant drama and fantastic in-ring action all brought together to showcase why wrestling is such a hugely entertaining art form.

A brilliant end to a pretty good event; the superb climax is quite rightly going to be what Night of Champions 2023 is remembered for – but there was a lot of other great stuff too.

The undoubtedly plenty more exciting stuff on the way too – now that The Bloodline is truly crumbling before our very eyes.