It’s not really a secret that the Sami Zayn/Alpha Academy storyline has been the best thing going on “Raw” for a while now, or at least had the most compelling character work. We’ve written about how much we love this storyline a lot in this space recently, but this week’s episode took it to the next level for me.

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It wasn’t even really the Sami Zayn vs. Otis match, or the in-ring angles that preceded and followed it. Those were good, but they basically hit the same beats the story has been hitting for weeks — Gable is an abusive manipulator and it’s anyone’s guess as to how much longer Otis going to take it, especially with Sami actively trying to bring him around. But the thing that really struck me was actually a segment that happened before all that, where Sami talked to Otis, Maxxine Dupri, and Akira Tozawa backstage. In this segment, Otis laid out his motivation for sticking by Gable: Back in 2020, in the so-called Thunderdome Era necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Otis lost everything he had. Both his girlfriend Mandy Rose and his best friend and tag team partner Tucker Knight were drafted to “Raw” while Otis stayed on “SmackDown,” and to add insult to injury, Knight turned on Otis and cost him his Money in the Bank briefcase at Hell in a Cell. That was the moment Gable first reached out to Otis, and they’ve been Alpha Academy ever since. Otis has had Gable by his side for well over three years now (nearly as long as Otis’ entire WWE career before Gable); they’ve been tag team champions together. As we’ve seen week in and week out, Otis’ relationship with Gable isn’t something he can just casually toss away, and reminding us of this backstory is a masterful way of explaining why Otis is so unwilling to sever his connection with Gable.

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And of course, if anybody is going to understand and sympathize with backstory like that, it’s Sami Zayn, who once found his own twisted, abusive family in the form of The Bloodline — something he, too, mentioned during this backstage segment. Suddenly it was all so clear; Sami isn’t just fighting this fight because Gable turned on him. He sees himself in Otis, forever struggling to prove his loyalty and devotion to an abusive father figure for whom no proof is ever enough. And he knows from very recent experience that anything is possible once you break free from those abusive relationships and become the fully realized version of yourself. Also in that backstage segment, Sami talks to Otis about how great he could be outside Gable’s shadow — Sami doesn’t just want to protect the Academy, he wants them to get away from the person keeping them down so they can flourish and become spectacular.

My prediction for Clash at the Castle is that Otis and the Academy will finally turn on Gable, who will then win the Intercontinental title thanks to his new stable, comprised of a newly-heel Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile. What I really want, though, no matter how it happens, is a babyface faction with Sami leading the Academy members, shepherding this bizarre stable of misfit toys and bringing out the best in them. That has to be the logical endpoint here, right? Sami becoming the non-abusive father figure to a group of people as low on the WWE totem pole as he once was, demonstrating how to help them realize their potential by being an actual good leader and friend? If that’s where this angle is headed, there’s probably no better alternative in terms of Sami Zayn character arcs. And if it’s done right, it would mean we start seeing stronger, more formidable versions of Otis, Maxxine, and particularly Tozawa, who was widely considered one of the best wrestlers in the world until Vince McMahon made him a comedy sideshow.

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Also, you know what the best part about this is? Back in 2020 when Otis was losing his friends and his briefcase, at the exact same time, Roman Reigns was in the middle of his first feud after regaining the Universal Championship, a feud against his cousin, Jey Uso, that would eventually lead to the formation of The Bloodline. That Hell in a Cell show where Otis got betrayed, right before he joined up with Gable? That was the same Hell in a Cell that saw Reigns retain his title against Jey, with the family elders formally anointing him afterward. And at that exact same time, Sami Zayn (the paltry, conspiracy theorist heel version of Sami Zayn) just happened to be Intercontinental Champion. Because time is a flat circle.

You can keep your five-star dream matches. This right here is why I love wrestling. Can’t wait for Clash.

Written by Miles Schneiderman