Roman Reigns challenged Daniel Bryan to a Universal championship match on this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown with a special stipulation — if Reigns were to emerge victorious, Bryan would have to leave the blue brand for good. WWE promoted the hell out of the match-up all week, and then spent much of the show with various Legends and current stars giving predictions for the main event showdown.
The match they put together was worthy of headlining a major pay-per-view, and will likely go down as one of the best TV matches of 2021. Reigns escaped multiple submissions, broke up close pinfalls because he was near the ropes, and generally sold for Bryan like he was twice his actual size.
Bryan, for his part, kicked out of the Spear and was presented every bit the equal while also putting over just how much of a mountain Reigns is to climb.
In the end, Bryan was locked in a guillotine and while he never tapped out, he did pass out. The referee called the match, it’s a technical submission win for Reigns, who remains the Universal champion, and Bryan is officially done on SmackDown.
The show ended with Cesaro running in to try to help Bryan but ending up tied in the ropes and watching Reigns hit Bryan with a conchairto.
That’s that.
Get complete SmackDown results and coverage of this week’s show right here.