This was a multipurpose segment and delivered on all fronts.
The Head of the Table came out looking like a straight up boss in his track suit. Seriously, we need more regular clothes on WWE programming.
Reigns allowed his special counsel to do the talking this evening, and boy did he talk.
Heyman put him over huge while running down all of his opponents since returning at SummerSlam last year. After, Reigns asked for Jimmy Uso.
Instead, Cesaro came out with his arm in a sling. He challenged Reigns to a match at Hell in a Cell. Well… he tried to, at least. As Reigns immediately shot him down, Seth Rollins blindsided him and just turned into this unhinged maniac.
It deserves your eyes.
The referees and backstage officials tried to hold him back and get him to stop, and he did – for a moment. Then he jumped over the barricade and did another curb stomp to Cesaro on the steel part of the ramp. Just brutal looking.
This was good stuff all around. I don’t know who Reigns’ opponent will be at Hell in a Cell but at this point I no longer think it should be Cesaro. In fact, Rollins and Cesaro needs to be in the Cell.
Woven into this, Jimmy Uso started the process of getting his brother out of Reigns’ grasp. He went and got them a tag team match against the Street Profits next week, but Jey wasn’t happy about it. He had to tell Reigns about it, because Reigns is the boss. Jimmy tried telling Jey that Roman said he didn’t need him, and he also doesn’t need Roman.
So Jey went to tell Roman, and Roman said that they represent the family, and something else I couldn’t hear before Reigns leaned in and hugged Jey.
That look. Even though we didn’t hear it, it seems obvious what Roman told Jey he had to do.
They aren’t winning next week. Remember what I said last week – Jey isn’t allowed to. That’s his place in the Bloodline. Attack dog and nothing else. Betting that next week, Jey turns on Jimmy mid-match and cause them to lose.
And that could lead to a first time ever Jimmy vs. Jey match at Hell in a Cell. Oh boy!
Keep in mind, this will quite possibly end up being the only fresh match up on the show. My god, the repetitiveness is insane.
Let’s get to the rest of the main hits and misses of this show. For a full rundown of SmackDown, check out the live blog by Claire Elizabeth!
Oh… this again
Oh look – a 6 person tag involving people who are feuding with each other.
Feels a bit familiar, doesn’t it?
If you haven’t been paying attention, this has been my go to for the past… however many weeks of WWE booking 6 or 8 man/woman tags in place of being creative. This was just another one of those times.
And this time, with people who shouldn’t be feuding with each other anymore. While I could put up with another Bianca Belair and Bayley match, I do not need another Tamina/Natalya and Shayna/Nia match. And that’s exactly what we’re going to get with Shayna tapping out Natalya.
After an odd opening segment of Sonya Deville introducing the SmackDown champions as if you and I haven’t been watching, Bayley interrupted to chastise Deville for not including her in this line-up. She baited Belair into walking down to the ring, and then Baszler and Jax attacked her, prompting Natalya and Tamina.
The match was a standard 6 person tag. WWE is good at them. They’ve pretty much perfected these so there’s always a good watch.
But as I said, Shayna tapping out Natalya told us everything we needed to know. Because On Raw this coming Monday, there will be a rematch indeed. Any involvement of their makes me worried this reign of Natalya and Tamina will be short, unless they use their next match to finally split Nia and Shayna up.
That’s absolutely what we need right now.
Black Mass saves Apollo Crews
This was a bit of a head scratcher.
So Crews, Owens, E, and Zayn were having quite a banger, as all four men would do, and the Commander Azeez was outside the ring for all of this match.
I was just waiting for it. Every time someone not Crews would pin someone else, Azeez would start to climb into the ring like he was going to break up the pin. This happened multiple times.
Finally, Big E did the Big Ending to Crews and Azeez pulled him out of the ring. I thought that was where the help would start, and Crews would pin Owens or Zayn. But E took Azeez out and got back into the ring.
All of a sudden the lights got super bright and out from the fog, Aleister Black reappeared after having one of his vignettes earlier in the night. He just got into the ring and gave E a Black Mass, and Crews took advantage to win.
It’s definitely not that Black is joining with Crews and Azeez, and I’m glad I was not treated to what I thought was going to happen the entire match, but the total randomness of this was odd. Not… bad odd, but it doesn’t feel good odd for me yet.
I really don’t know how to feel about this. I have to wait until next week.
The Rest
Rik BOOGS! (Shinsuke Nakamura defeated King Corbin)
Rik Boogs. This man is awesome. I introduced my predecessor Alex Briggs to Rik last year, and y’all really should see the DMs. Man’s in love with him now. As am I. As is Pat McAfee! There was a match here, but Rik Boogs (weird spelling but whatevs it’s the BUGEZ BOOGS!) is all that matters to me at the moment.
If this was your first time, welcome to the Boogs cruise. It’s a wild ride.
Dominik Mysterio defeated Robert Roode
Sure. See you all next week!
Grade: B+
What were your thoughts, Cagesiders?