In a trend which is no way an indictment on the rest of WWE’s blue brand, SmackDown was the Roman Reigns Show yet again this week.
Friday night’s episode was bookended by glorious character work from the Tribal Chief, who kicked off the show after an emotional tribute to the late, great Pat Patterson with Vince McMahon and Gerald Brisco joining the roster on the stage for a 10-bell salute.
Reigns – accompanied by Paul Heyman and Jey Uso – laughed off Kalya Braxton’s questions about Kevin Owens, before the latter made his way down to the ring and made a challenge for the TLC pay-per-view on December 22.
Uso accepted the match to his cousin’s dismay, while Roman refused to fight KO there and then because Kayla was present and he’s a gentleman.
A tag team match with the two family members facing Otis and Owens was set up, while Reigns promised there would be consequences for Jey’s actions.
Roman didn’t come out for the main event at first, meaning it started as a handicap match, but he did take his spot on the apron as his cousin had turned the tide of the bout.
He battered Otis, and a special mention has to go to the trash talk – particularly between Reigns, Owens and Uso, who are really stepping up the character work from an already high standard.
Reigns caused a DQ loss for his team when he broke up KO’s pin attempt after a stunner, and caught him in the guillotine and stared at Jey until he grabbed two chairs.
They laid into Owens, including a top rope splash onto a chair and their rival before Roman destroyed his cousin as payback for his actions earlier.
He warned Kevin that he and his family ‘are going to fear’ him, as the Tribal Chief stood tall to end the show.
Best of the rest
The first match of the night saw Bianca Belair – who was on commentary – cause a distraction that led to Bayley losing to Natalya in something of an upset.
After another Pat Patterson tribute aired for the first ever Intercontinental Champion, six men who have held that belt collided in a six-man tag team match.
Big E (with his new music and entrance), Daniel Bryan and Rey Mysterio overcame Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn in a damn fine match with enough nods to Pat.
This continued after the bell, as Ziggler was on the receiving end of an atomic drop, 619 and Big Ending in a moment Patterson would have been proud of.
Elsewhere, Michael Cole treated us to an interview with Sasha Banks and Carmella, who were appearing on a split screen after their recent interactions.
Carmella accused the SmackDown Women’s Champion of being jealous that she was able to just waltz into the Performance Center ‘on a whim’ and become a star.
She insisted she is even better than the Legit Boss, who dreamed of this career since childhood – but Banks got the last word as she sold their TLC pay-per-view bout, and insisted her opponent has never met a ‘b***h like’ her.
Finally, Murphy and King Corbin’s rivalry continued this week with Dominik, Rey and Allyah Mysterio once again at ringside for the former.
The latter was accompanied by two hooded associates, who were revealed to be Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake, formerly of the Forgotten Sons.
The duo got involved and confronted the Mysterio family, eventually attacked them which caused a distraction and allowed Corbin to hit the End of Days for the win.
Quickfire SmackDown results and grades
- Natalya made Bayley tap out (C)
- Big E, Daniel Bryan and Rey Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn and Sinsuke Nakamura (B+)
- King Corbin pinned Murphy (B-)
- Kevin Owens and Otis beat Roman Reigns and Jey Uso via disqualification (A)
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