This week, SmackDown was stolen by Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Alexa Bliss and “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt with hints that two of WWE’s best stories are crossing paths.
Halfway through last night’s show, Jey came to the ring and questioned the Tribal Chief’s intense look at him last week as he seemed more like an enemy than his family.
They played a typically cracking video with members of the A’noai family – including Uso’s dad Rikishi – talking about the feud and Sunday’s hyped title match at Clash of Champions.
Roman and Paul Heyman were seen watching Jey’s promo from the back, with the latter insisting the Big Dog would talk when he’s ready.
Later in the show, Lacey Evans took on Alexa Bliss in the final match of the night, as the pair worked well in the opening minutes before Wyatt’s sinister laugh echoed through the ThunderDome as we cut to an ad break.
Bliss then started to build momentum, before The Fiend’s red lights covered the arena and part of Bray’s music blared out.
Alexa went into a trance and lost it, destroying the Sassy Southern Belle until she got disqualified, but the beat-down continued as she hit the Sister Abigail on the floor.
An even more interesting moment came as Roman Reigns interrupted and passed her on the stage on his way to the ring, and she gazed ominously at the Universal Champion – suggesting The Fiend may not be done with the Tribal Chief, and Bliss might play a big part in that.
In the ring, Heyman went to speak but was cut off by Jey’s music, before Big Dog delivered a money promo saying he’d give him the title if he could, but his cousin wouldn’t know what to do with it, the weight of being champion, or the pressure of being the face of the company.
He said Uso is one half of the greatest ever tag team, but he’s not the head of the family that everyone depends on. That’s Reigns.
Roman got halfway up the ramp before Uso asked what if he’s wrong, and that he’s sick of living in his cousin’s shadow, and with people know knowing if he’s Jimmy or Jey.
He delivered a pay-per-view selling promo full of real emotion and intensity, but Reigns just walked away.
As Jey left, the champ appeared out of nowhere with a Superman Punch and screamed in his cousin’s face that he’ll never take the title from him.
Best of the rest
The Intercontinental Championship Ascension Ceremony at the start of the night didn’t reinvent the wheel, but Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles and Sami Zayn are all good enough to still make it work.
In a strange move, we were treated to a triple threat match between the trio just days before they three of them compete in a ladder match at Clash of Champions, but they delivered a fantastic bout to get everyone hyped for Sunday.
Zayn stole the win after Styles hit the Phenomenal Forearm before the usual pre-ladder match chaos as AJ eventually climbed up and took the titles off the hook.
Bayley kept things short and sweet as she sat on the stage and called her former BFF Sasha Banks a cry baby before turning her attention to Nikki Cross and their title match at Clash of Champions.
She said she respected her challenger but promised to slap the smile off her face, and even suggested she could use a chair to injure her just weeks after doing the same to the Boss.
Gran Metalik took on Shinsuke Nakamura in a preview for this week’s SmackDown Tag Team Title bout, and it was a great sprint which could have done with an extra few minutes to take it to the next level.
Nakamura picked up the win, before he and Cesaro started to beat down Metalik and Lince Dorado, but Kalisto refused to help them – suggested the slow build to Lucha House Party’s breakup is eminent.
Elsewhere, Matt Riddle and King Corbin clashed in a good, physical match which made the latter look brutal and more dominating than he has in a while as he picked up the clean win with the End of Days.
Afterwards, the Original Bro insisted losing sucked and promised to build his way back up after an inconsistent on-screen start to his SmackDown stint.
Quickfire results
- Sami Zayn defeated Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles (B+)
- Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Gran Metalik (B)
- King Corbin beat Matt Riddle (B)
- Lacey Evans defeated Alexa Bliss via DQ (B)
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