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Want to know what's happening in the major angles in WWE right now? Get eyes on our Raw preview and Reactions, since everyone knows Monday night is when the important stuff happens.
Want to know what is definitely happening on tonight's SmackDown from Sacremento, California? Peep our spoiler post.
On Thursday mornings, we'll dig into the mid-card, the interesting and/or horrible stuff happening on the fringe away from your John Cenas and Brock Lesnars. Plus, pretend for a spoiler-free minute that we're the Legendary Teddy Long and guess at the blue brand's patented tag match of the week!
Run from the crazy Big Dog
Refreshed by a week off, Roman Reigns returned on Monday night. He didn't really care about feud-mate Bray Wyatt's speech about how he'd been decorated by WWE for his strength and beauty. He didn't really care that his best friend Dean Ambrose is a lunatic, or that his program got squished all together with Randy Orton's.
Like Fit Finlay, The Big Dog just loves to fight.
So they did, in a mish-mash of a six-man tag that featured two-third of The Shield plus The Viper against Bray, his once-again disciple Luke Harper & Sheamus. Neither the voices from The Ambrose Asylum or Orton's head distracted Reigns from Spearing Mr. Money in the Bank (that would be Sheamus if, like me, you forget that a lot) to close out Raw with a win.
What they should do: Was going to say, "don't mix any other programs in with Roman vs. Bray", but we've already been told that the Big Dog will face Rusev tonight. In addition to being a slobberknocker, that gave us the notion that maybe ALL THE OTHER FEUDS should crossover with the remnants of The Hounds of Justice vs. The Wyatts!
Stardust thinks Ambrose is Deadpool and attacks! Reigns lays down some smooth talk to Becky Lynch, leading to Tamina telling him she's not worthy of his branch on the Anoa'i family tree! Undertaker consults with him to find out how he made his WrestleMania comeback against The Beast Incarnate! King Barrett...well, I'm not sure what his gimmick is or who he's working with these days...but you get the idea!
What we're afraid they'll do: This feud is fraught with danger for pretty much all involved, as who knows what Vince McMahon thinks of any of the four primary participants (Ambrose, Harper, Reigns & Wyatt) when it's over. For now, it's been pretty suspenseful - if susceptible to the usual water treading any WWE feud suffers from between pay-per-views (PPVs) - and giving us good in-ring action. So keep the crossovers coming...just don't give Reigns any fairy tales to read.
You have failed this (WWE) Universe
One good thing that's come out of Seth Rollins' less-than-dominating run as WWE champion is that you can honestly believe anyone might beat him at any time. On Monday, Neville took a break from orbiting around Stardust to make us all gasp when we thought Vince would put a guy over The Architect who had, moments before, been effectively compared to the only mini on the roster.
Last week, The Man Who Gravity Forgot stood up to The Strange One when he threatened to put a beatdown on R-Truth. This week he's had to marvel along with the rest of us while Cody Rhodes' wife, employers and the current voice of the company failed to reach him underneath his character.
Arrow's Stephen Amell will be with us next week to add some superhero luster to this SummerSlam program.
What they should do: I've been a fan of Cody's going back to the "Dashing" days (but not to Legacy, because, come on...nobody was a Legacy mark), mostly because when the dude gets a gimmick, he goes all the way with it. I love Neville, and I'm a sucker for a famous wrestling fan like Amell, and the other guy rumored to get put in this program, The Miz, has been killing it as a heel and a corporate spokesman this year...but for busting his ass in disposed of characters and forgotten feuds for almost his entire career, let this be a spotlight moment for Stardust to break out
Whether it's by bringing Cody back or launch his interstellar, four color alter ego as a Goldust/Kane staple of the upper mid-card, Rhodes deserves this.
What we're afraid they'll do: Forget to have The CW sign a liability waver, so the Green Arrow stuff gets sidelined like Mickey Rourke at WrestleMania 25, leading to him jobbing to Miz in a heat-less encounter because backstage politics mean Neville doesn't get a PPV slot.
The Theodore Long Honorary Tag Match goes to...
Of all the things Tough Enough is doing wrong, depleting the roster on Tuesday nights is the one that pisses me off the most. For weeks, just about every tag pairing I can imagine has either been spoiled in advance or rendered impossible by that darn USA Network 'reality' competition that fewer & fewer people watch each week.
There's probably a fifty-fifty chance the advertised main event adds some players and becomes a multi-person affair, but that feels like cheating. I guessed it would be #DivasRevolution related last week and got burned. And if I don't involve them, this will be the first Preview in two weeks where I haven't talked about how much I love Cesaro & Kevin Owens, who killed it on Raw with that Miz TV segment.
So let's throw those guys into the tag title stew, and predict a six-man of The Swiss Superman joining Lucha Dragons for a battle against Kevin Owens & The Ascension. KO will probably walk out on it, but if Viktor gets Neutralized into a Salida del Sol or some craziness, I know I won't.
(Note: I know some folks have come looking for a more definitive match listing - that will be posted behind spoiler text in the comments. If WWE.com releases more information on anything that's officially going to take place on tonight's show, that'll be updated here)