I love the way Friday Night SmackDown started this week.
Roman Reigns, the longtime WWE Universal champion, was making his grand entrance, something that almost feels sacred at this point, and LA Knight — YEAH — interrupted while Reigns was still in the aisle, with his theme blaring while walking right past him. The look on Roman’s face was money.
It told the story.
Knight is as brazen as it gets, and not even in the face of someone like Reigns would he be changing that. But Roman, the seasoned vet that he is, spent his time on the microphone knocking LA back down to size, calling out the fact that he probably hasn’t even had to ever sign a contract before, least of all for a championship match.
It’s just another day for a guy like Reigns.
Knight wouldn’t back down, however, with a callback to “suffering succotash” and a verbal assault that wouldn’t stop, enough so that Reigns lost his cool and picked up the whole damn table they signed the contract on and flipped it on Knight’s head. Then, another table from under the ring because Reigns was really and truly fed up with this shit.
Of course, Reigns never got to use the table because Knight came back enough to run him off. Jimmy Uso hit the scene to assist his leader but, wouldn’t you know it, he was just there to be the guy to take a ride through the aforementioned table.
Big pop!
This was a really well laid out segment that did a great job of building to the match with the unique characteristics of both on display. I’m no more convinced of Knight’s chances, but I do like how he was positioned.
He’s a big deal.
In the main event, Knight scored a win over Jimmy after a fun match that was built all the way around putting LA over. Even after the match that’s what they had in mind, as Reigns tried to attack from behind with a spear and Knight dodged it and hit him with Blunt Force Trauma.
The show ended with the Megastar trash talking Reigns as he was selling his way to the back.
It looks damn good for our favorite, folks.
Hey, John Cena is still hanging around and he’s even going to be headed over to Saudi Arabia to work the Crown Jewel event in a singles match against Solo Sikoa. He’s still a priority of The Bloodline, what with his role in LA Knight’s ascension, and Reigns’ chief lieutenant is in charge of taking him out.
Cena appeared on this show to say that things have gotten awfully serious for him, as serious as it was for him all the way back when he first came to WWE and they wanted to fire him. He fought on then, and the connection he built with the audience has meant everything.
And now, for the first time in 20 years, he feels scared of losing the respect and support of the fans at Crown Jewel. He appreciates the “you still got it” chants but…
“…what if I don’t?”
We can’t ignore the numbers, and the fact that this man hasn’t won a match on PPV for WWE in a very, very long time. He knows he’s in a must win situation but the time has come to promise that he is going to win the damn match.
The time is now to deliver!l
Naturally, Paul Heyman hit the ring to put over Sikoa as a very real threat to Cena, The Greatest of All Time, with his spike taking away Cena’s ability to speak and The Bloodline taking him out completely. Sure enough, Solo showed up to live out Heyman’s threats and Cena was left on the mat.
A preview of things to come?
All the rest
- The Street Profits defeated The LWO in a decent tag team match that had a hilarious bit near the end. Rey Mysterio was watching on a TV in the back, instead of just being ringside, and Logan Paul attacked him from behind (pre-tape alert!) The guys in the ring saw this, and it was the distraction that opened the door for the Profits. This made the LWO look pretty bad overall.
- They teased Logan Paul vs. Kevin Owens on this show, just before Owens laid out Austin Theory and Grayson Waller with a single punch. We love that man.
- Cedric Alexander got back on TV by challenging Dragon Lee to a match and the two of them agreed to it. Said match didn’t come until later but it was yet another strong showcase for Lee, who scored the victory via pinfall.
- Shotzi defeated Chelsea Green in a singles match they set up with a pre-taped argument backstage. The match wasn’t very good but they’re at least working to get the women’s tag team champions on television with something meaningful to do.
- Bianca Belair was back this week with a promo on how Damage CTRL needs to be made to pay for taking her out the way they did. She’ll be challenging Iyo Sky for the women’s championship at Crown Jewel but first Bayley will be taken care of next week. It’s a simple revenge story, and I’m here for it.
Another good show from the blue brand, especially as far as how Knight was positioned.
Grade: A-
Your turn.
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