WWE allegedly had a stated goal of upping the intensity and intrigue behind the John Cena vs. Roman Reigns feud on Friday Night SmackDown this week and their chosen method of doing so was to let the two get all meta with their promos. They referenced real life beef, breakups, told some dick jokes, and Cena told Reigns his new teeth look like big bars of soap.
Some quality shit talking in there!
The problem was they went way too far with it. At one point Cena quite literally looked to the crowd and said “you guys want a compelling story for SummerSlam, right?” That’s taking things a step too far.
What’s funny is there was an example of the opposite later in the show when Seth Rollins hit the ring to cut a promo on Edge. The story they’ve told is actually compelling without needing to resort to the cheap tricks Cena and Reigns did. Instead, we’re getting Rollins struggling with the implication that he’s a lesser version of Edge and what he’s willing to do now that he’s been called out for as much. He let Edge off the hook once before, many years ago. He will not do so again, even if it means the end of that man’s career.
That’s more like it.
Here are the videos from SmackDown this week:
- John Cena says all he needs to beat Roman Reigns is 1-2-3
- King Nakamura captures the Intercontinental title from Apollo Crews
- The Street Profits vs. Otis & Chad Gable
- The Mysterios vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
- Seth Rollins attempts to show why he’s better than Edge
- Seth Rollins promises to stomp Edge into the mat at SummerSlam
- Kevin Owens vs. Baron Corbin
- Baron Corbin steals Big E’s Money in the Bank briefcase
- Sasha Banks, Carmella, and Zelina Vega attack Bianca Belair
- Baron Corbin exits with Money in the Bank contract
- The Mysterios are confident en route to SummerSlam
- King Nakamura celebrates becoming Intercontinental champion
- King Nakamura takes his first photos as Intercontinental champion