Roman Reigns now has a date with Brock Lesnar at a Last Man Standing game at SummerSlam late next month in Nashville, so he wasn’t even around Friday Night SmackDown this week. Instead, we have a lot of guys who want to get to the main scene of the event arguing about how they’re going to get there.
Like Drew McIntyre claiming Reigns dodges him, so he will only have to win the Money in the Bank contract to book a match. Meanwhile, Sheamus took note of the fact that he had won the Money in the Bank contract once before and when he charged to win the title, he did so against Reigns.
Good points!
This only made Paul Heyman enter the scene with Adam Pearce with the word that McIntyre and Sheamus are not actually in the Money in the Bank scale match because they didn’t win it by winning a tie. Remember, they had this double disqualification. But they could still get it by teaming up and defeating The Usos in the main event of the night.
This is the kind of writing you get when they try to service all teachers without real firm plans from week to week. Put your team-unified champions in a match against a non-team duo that you know will participate and therefore have to win, while commenting and explaining that team titles are not on the list. line and The Usos victory would not put them in the Money in the Bank scale match.
The idea that Uses was trying to block them both from the contract is okay, it just feels uninspired. Also, why not support Zayn and try to get him in the ladder match when he said he wanted to win the contract not to take advantage of Reigns but to protect him? This is a really compelling angle! Luckily, Zayn won anyway and maybe they can lean towards that, but it sure seems like a lot more that they’re just trying to put an obstacle in the way for McIntyre to overcome the path to a September title.
Indeed, McIntyre hooked Jimmy up after a Claymore to win the match to keep the big teammates in the Money in the Bank ladder match. There were traps involved, so it wasn’t entirely clean, considering Zayn got involved (notice he was trying to help!) And The Street Profits were there to match, but the show went off the air with Drew and Sheamus celebrating.
Take it for whatever you want.
The match was a lot of fun, though, without a doubt.
Look, this is more in line with how Ronda Rousey should be presented.
Natalya gets silly, dresses like Rousey with a baby stroller and hears him about being “the saddest woman on the planet” and what not. It’s silly, it’s silly, it’s all these things, but it’s by design. It’s a good setup for Rousey to take down and look good doing.
Whether you do it or not depends on your interpretation and your tastes as they do. I’m not sure how I feel about wanting to not recognize Nattie “without your frame off” and punching her for getting plastic surgery to meet impossible beauty standards or whatever, but I did a strong line near the end:
This is great.
Rousey is getting more and more comfortable with the mic and this is seen in her delivery here. I’m not saying it’s suddenly The Rock, but it’s much better than it was just a couple of months ago. Say whatever you want about your WWE career this time around, there’s been a noticeable improvement, and that segment proved it.
I also liked the absurdity of Rousey directly stealing Natalya’s jacket – because it’s Ronda’s, you know – and Nattie responding by attacking her with the stroller. Professional wrestling, you must love it.
Everything else
- Sami Zayn defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to qualify for Money in the Bank’s men’s scale match in what was an incredibly fun opening bout for this show. I explained a bit why it was a little disappointing in an aspect earlier in this review, but on its own it was a very fun match and there is real potential for Zayn to win the contract. This makes me, for example, much more interested. Zayn’s interaction with Heyman backstage later in the show is all the reason he deserves all the airtime he has these days.
- The New Day was supposed to fight Shanky and Jinder Mahal, but the former played a song and the overwhelming desire to dance ended any idea of conflict. It was not until The Viking Raiders returned, with a new coat of paint, that they attacked all three from behind. They have returned from their trip to NXT and they look the same as always.
- Sonya Deville has returned and is in charge of Adam Pearce on issues such as the status of the women’s division on SmackDown. I really wanted you to mention the team division, but something tells me this will never happen. As a result, she, along with Shayna Baszler and Xia Li, were used to putting on Lacey Evans and Raquel Rodriguez on their way to Money in the Bank. Okay, but Deville is a million times more interesting than either of those two.
- GUNTHER beat Ricochet in a rematch of the intercontinental championship. It wasn’t that interesting, which is unfortunate considering his first game was outstanding. There’s a lot of potential in GUNTHER, but we’ll see if they do anything to unlock it.
- I continue to be very entertained because Max Dupri never releases his models because Adam Pearce can’t get the exact conditions to do so.
- Pat McAfee will fight again, this time at SummerSlam, and couldn’t be happier to get involved in more angles / games. Without a doubt, he’s the best performer in the whole damn staff. I can’t wait to see him beat Bum Ass Corbin in front of a crowded stadium.
This was a pretty good show overall.
Grade: B-
Your turn.