Rey Mysterio started the show off about his love for his son.
Dominik is able to walk but isn’t cleared to wrestle right now. He told Dominik about the risks that come with wrestling, but this was his dream. He talks about the helpless look he saw in Dom’s eyes while he suffered and how he’s never going to forget that Roman did this.
Reigns came out and said he was going to make what he did to Dominik look PG.
Later, Jimmy Uso approached Reigns and in a pivotal moment in this storyline, said to him that he agreed with what he said last week, and he’s there to help Reigns in Jey’s absence. But Reigns said that he wants Jey, because as a family, they need to be together. Really great stuff here.
Surprisingly, Rey got the upper hand right off the jump grabbing anything he could from under the ring and hitting Reigns with it. He just dominated for the first 5 minutes, more so than any recent Reigns match.
Literally for Rey’s first time in the Cell, he looked like a damn veteran.
Rey put a chair around his neck and threw him into the cage and the ring post. But Reigns finally got the upper hand.
And boy oh boy did he get it in Reigns fashion. Reigns launched him from the ring into the cage. It took enough out of Rey to tap immediately to the Guillotine.
That was a perfect television Cell match. Picture in picture would have been nice, but it’s all about the money. The Usos/Reigns family dynamic has been fascinating to watch. It didn’t look like it at first, but Jimmy is just as gullible as Jey.
But it was never about Roman. As soon as Jey was deeply affected by this, Jimmy started coming around and honoring the Tribal Chief. That’s true brotherhood and I love it. Even as Roman choked Rey out again, you could see Jimmy wanting to help, but holding himself back.
Let’s get to the rest of the show. For a full rundown of SmackDown, check out the live blog by Claire Elizabeth!
You get a Cell match!
Ding Dong, Hello! will be a goodbye according to Bianca Belair.
Belair entered the ThunderDome and said she doesn’t let anyone define her anymore, especially after Bayley made her feel like back when she was a kid getting bullied. Bayley won’t be laughing when the bell rings.
She then announced that this Sunday, their match will indeed be a Cell match.
Bayley then came down to the ring and just started to swing at her but Belair got the upper hand, until Bayley used her hair against her. She did a great looking Roseplant and held the title in the air.
And then the ThunderDome screens went blank and Bayley’s image popped up all over again. Really excellent usage of the ThunderDome.
So this was originally not a Cell match, but boy did this show make some changes, huh? I would say that this match deserves a Cell match to end the feud (or maybe not!) because the bullying aspect of the storyline requires an ultimate beatdown.
Not far enough
Another excellent promo segment for Seth Rollins.
Cesaro said that he didn’t go far enough last week because Rollins put him on a stretcher. He’s worked hard to get to where he is and Rollins tried to take it all away.
All of a sudden Rollins appeared and took Kayla Braxton’s spot. He started saying that he came to talk and not fight, and I thought it was to trick Cesaro and do the beatdown.
However, it went a totally different way I wasn’t expecting and I loved it.
Rollins sat down and smugly told Cesaro he came to tell him that he disgusts him, and everything he stands for is a disgrace. After last week he doesn’t even deserve respect. His cadence and his smugness was so great. He didn’t even attempt to blindside Cesaro.
So Cesaro stood up and shoved Rollins to the floor. It was so not what I was expecting it became one of my favorite moments of the night.
THIS feud absolutely deserved a Cell match, but alas.
The Rest
King Nakamura! (Shinsuke Nakamura defeated former King Corbin)
Rick Boogs may have been perfectly placed as Nakamura’s hype man. Absolutely loved when Nak slid out of the ring and did air guitar with him. Corbin went for the End of Days but Nakamura countered it but Corbin did a wicked clothesline. The Kinshasa sealed the deal. I really hope the full King shtick is done with Corbin. Boogs placed the crown on his new King’s head and it was such a delight.
Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez defeated Big E and Kevin Owens
For Azeez’s “first time” in the ring, I thought he did pretty well. He even got the pinfall! Two Nigerian Nails were delivered to Owens and Zayn was in Gorilla laughing and kissing the screen showing Owens in agony. A still choking Owens then went up to Pearce and Deville and demanded a match with Zayn at Hell in a Cell, to which Pearce agreed to. Let’s run it back one more time, why not?
Angelo Dawkins got run over by a bullDozovic
What was supposed to be a match between Otis and Dawkins just ended up being a two on one beatdown. Really awesome tag team maneuver with Otis bouncing off the ropes and clotheslining Dawkins into a Gable suplex. Looked damn vicious. Dawkins sold it like death, too.
Grade: A-
What were your thoughts, Cagesiders?