– Footage of Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline entering the building
aired to open the show. From there, a video package
recapping Crown Jewel’s Bloodline developments was shown.
After the video, Roman Reigns’s music hit inside the
building and Roman made his entrance for the first segment.
The Roman Reigns Bloodline segment
I like the unexpected response from Roman, which essentially
checked Sami, disappointed the crowd and allowed him to show
all the frustration he has with Solo stepping up the way he
has. Angry Roman is the best Roman. Meanwhile, Sami showed
good disappointment and Jey was even believable with his
conflicted face. I’m near the end of my rope with dragging
the reunion out for the sake of dragging the reunion out,
but this was a fun-enough twist to keep things going.
Reigns walked out flanked by only Jimmy Uso. The crowd
chanted “OTC!” Reigns stood in the ring and soaked the
chants in before proclaiming … nothing, because as Roman
raised the microphone to his mouth, Jey Uso’s music hit and
Jey walked out through the regular entrance – not the crowd.
Jey did not get in the turnbuckles to turn up the crowd and
instead had a serious demeanor. Jey said he thinks there’s a
lot of misunderstanding and he asked Roman to hear Sami Zayn
out. On cue, Sami’s music hit and out, Sami walked. “Sami
Uso” chants broke out.
Zayn said first of all, he wanted Roman to know that his
kick to Roman’s face wasn’t on purpose. Zayn said the only
reason he was at Crown Jewel was for Jey. Zayn said he was
at SmackDown for more than just Jey and it had been a long
time since Zayn and Roman had been in the ring together.
Zayn said at Crown Jewel, when it was the four of them
together again, it was special and it took Zayn back to a
very special time in his life and career and family. Zayn
said he still has a soft spot for his time in the Bloodline.
Zayn said he knew Jey, Jimmy and Roman felt it, too, when
they were together last weekend.
Zayn said the only reason any of it was happening was
because on some level, Roman wanted the original four-member
Bloodline back. Zayn said the opposite of love is not hate;
it is indifference, and he doesn’t believe Roman is
indifferent to Zayn. Instead, Zayn said he thinks Roman
loves Zayn. Zayn said Roman remembers the old days just like
everybody else and it could be like that again. Zayn said he
was going to put the ball in Roman’s court and if Roman
wanted Zayn to leave, Zayn said he’d leave. Zayn said he
didn’t believe that was what Roman wanted and what he
thought Roman wanted was that they reunite to fight side by
side.
If that’s what Roman wants, Zayn said he’d join him and do
it – on one condition: Roman apologize to Zayn. The crowd
chanted “hug it out!” Roman asked Zayn to clarify that Zayn
wanted Roman to apologize to Zayn, to which Zayn said no –
Zayn wanted Roman to apologize to Jey. Roman walked over to
Jey and Roman said, “I’m sorry.” Roman paused and then said,
“I’m sorry that I ever let you waste my time with this.”
Roman said Zayn is not family and Roman berated Zayn. As
such, Zayn left the ring and walked to the back. Roman
called for Solo Sikoa to come out.
Jacob Fatu appeared on the screen from backstage. Fatu said
Roman is just like everyone else because Solo is his Tribal
Chief. Fatu said Solo moves on his own time and he’ll come
out whenever he pleases. Fatu said at the end of the day,
Roman will acknowledge that. Jey looked conflicted in the
ring and Zayn paused on his way to the back. Roman, Jey and
Jimmy looked angry and walked out of the ring to end the
segment.
**********
– Roman was shown walking backstage and Jey approached him.
Roman tried to walk away, but Jey grabbed Roman. Jey asked
Roman again if he would hear Zayn out. Roman said Zayn
“ain’t nothing to us.” Jey said he told Roman that if he
talked to Jey like that again, Jey would be out again, and
Jey walked away. Jimmy questioned Roman and Roman snapped at
Jimmy, too. Jimmy walked away and Roman was alone staring
around into the distance.
Bayley defeated Candice LeRae [8:02]
This was really pretty good. It’s still odd that LeRae has
been side-by-side with Indi Hartwell almost entirely during
her main roster run and now Indi all of a sudden isn’t
there, but she held her own here and Bayley was very giving,
which helped both wrestlers. The cheap win makes me wonder
if we run this back – despite a fluke-ish pin from LeRae
setting this up to begin with – and if they do run it back,
I won’t complain. LeRae has been criminally under-utilized
and Bayley has become a great upper-card wrestler who gives
attention to wrestlers who might need it because they’ve
been neglected by the booking for so long. Kudos to both
women here.
LeRae had control early until Bayley shoulder-blocked LeRae
to the mat. Bayley followed that up with a clothesline and a
two-count. Bayley threw LeRae to the apron, but LeRae fought
back and hit a neck-breaker on Bayley. The show then went to
a commercial break as LeRae gained back the upper hand. The
show returned and LeRae was working a type of chin-lock I am
positive Excalibur could name. LeRae found herself on the
apron and pulled Bayley down by her hair. LeRae went to the
top and Bayley cut off LeRae, but LeRae bounced Bayley off
the ring post.
LeRae went to the top and hit a missile dropkick from the
top, but Bayley no-sold it and struck back with a
clothesline. Bayley rammed LeRae into a corner and
eventually landed a neck-breaker. Bayley lifted LeRae and
hit a sort of tilt-a-whirl Sidewalk Slam. Bayley went to the
top and LeRae rolled to the outside. Bayley chased LeRae and
when they got back into the ring, LeRae sold random knee
pain. The referee pulled Bayley aside. LeRae tried to take
advantage with a rollup, but Bayley was ready for it and
pinned LeRae for the win.
**********
– Motor City Machine Guns were hanging out backstage and
Johnny Gargano walked into the frame. Gargano told them they
should have fun punching Grayson Waller in the face. Ciampa
approached Gargano and was very angry that Gargano was
friendly with MCMG. Ciampa yelled that they would take their
tag titles back. Out of nowhere, Randy Orton walked past
Gargano and made his way to the ring as a sort of surprise.
Orton walked to the ring with purpose and the show went to a
commercial break.
– A lot of Buffalo Bills were shown in the front row.
The Randy Orton/Kevin Owens segment
What a great old school pro wrestling segment. Orton was
perfect – literally, perfect – in selling the piledriver, a
move that famously has not been allowed in WWE for a long
time now. That said, it was one of the safest piledrivers
I’ve ever seen, so good on Kevin Owens for that. But the
aftermath? Wow, this was some of the best WWE SmackDown TV
I’ve seen in months. Everyone was pitch perfect. Great stuff
all around. Plus, with Cody riding alongside Orton, this
sets up Cody vs. Owens now … right?
Randy Orton was pacing inside the ring and he yelled,
demanding Kevin Owens show up because Orton was going to
“end this sh$! right now” (yes, he actually did use his cuss
words). Owens appeared and marched to the ring. Owens rolled
into the ring and the two brawled. Orton was getting the
best of Owens until officials broke them up. Owens then
kicked Orton and hit a piledriver on Orton, which is not
something I thought I’d see on WWE TV ever again. Michael
Cole played it up by saying the move has been banned. Orton
sold neck pain as Corey Graves called for medics, who
promptly appeared.
The medics cut Orton’s shirt in half. Owens backed his way
up away from the ring. Cody came out to check on Orton and
Orton did a stretcher job. Orton sold the hell out of it.
Even Corey Graves got up out of commentary and tried to lend
a helping hand. Cody walked with Orton, who was being rolled
on the stretcher, to the back. The camera followed Orton all
the way back to a waiting ambulance. Cody said he was going
to go with Orton in the ambulance. The ambulance pulled out
of the building and that ended the segment.
**********
#DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) defeated Pretty
Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince) [1:36]
Sign Ciampa up to be the next Death Rider over on the other
channel alongside Moxley. Guy had some fire here. This was a
good showcase for how angry and frustrated Ciampa is and I
liked the idea that Gargano didn’t appear flustered and
instead, this came off more like Ciampa was saying, “Come
with me; I’ll lead this,” rather than Gargano playing the
sanctimonious do-nothing. I liked it.
Neither team got a televised entrance, despite Pretty
Deadly’s disco ball being in full effect. Ciampa started the
match by attacking both Pretty Deadly guys. Ciampa
repeatedly slammed Elton Prince’s head onto the top of the
commentary table. Ciampa then threw Kit Wilson into the
timekeeper’s area before throwing Prince into the ring steps
multiple times. Gargano looked concerned and eventually
asked for a tag, but instead Ciampa hit a Fairytale Ending
on Prince for the win.
**********
– Candice LeRae was shown walking backstage and Tiffany
Stratton mocked LeRae for losing. Nia Jax came through and
was annoyed with Stratton for making the tag-team match
between Stratton & Jax and Cargill & Belair. Stratton said
she went to Nick Aldis about it because they could
potentially earn a shot at the women’s tag titles. Jax said
Tiffy’s plan better work. LeRae looked on and the show went
back to the ring.
– Next week, Naomi will face Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s
Championship.
Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair defeated Nia Jax & Tiffany
Stratton [9:27]
This was fine for what it was, but the thing that stuck out
most to me is that it didn’t follow the typical
Cargill/Belair match where Belair works the bulk of it and
Cargill gets the shine and goes home. Instead, Cargill took
the bulk of the punishment and worked well, I thought, with
Jax (for what we saw; the match was still lost to about two
minutes of commercials). Then, Belair tagged in and
eventually got the victory. It’s good to switch things up.
Outside of that, I like the pairing of LeRae and Jax, with
Tiffy somehow turning babyface sooner than later. This was
better than a normal WWE throwaway women’s tag match, and
that counts for something.
Stratton and Cargill started the match and Cargill quickly
got the advantage, until Stratton slapped Cargill and
Cargill got very mad, hitting a Fallaway Slam on Stratton.
Jax tagged in and Stratton pulled Belair off the apron. Jax
then landed a Samoan Drop on Cargill inside the ring. Jax
posed and the show went to a commercial break.
The show returned and Jax was working over Cargill. A PIP
then aired with a Golden Corral ad. After that, Cargill
tried for a hot tag, but Jax cut Cargill off and hit a
headbutt. Jax went for a suplex, but Cargill countered into
a suplex of her own. Cargill then got the hot tag to Belair
and Belair took out Stratton, who also tagged in. Belair
pounded on Stratton until Stratton tugged on Belair’s braid.
Belair worked out of it and hit a spinebuster. Belair went
for a moonsault, but Tiffy got her knees up and tagged in
Jax.
Jax lifted Belair and tagged in Stratton. Stratton hit a
Blockbuster on Belair as Jax hit a Samoan Drop on Belair.
Stratton went for the pin, but Cargill broke it up. Jax and
Cargill engaged in a stare down before trading blows.
Ultimately, Jax took Cargill down and rolled to the outside.
Stratton went for a double-knees, but Belair countered and
eventually hit a spear.
Belair went to the top, but Jax distracted the referee and
LeRae showed up to shove Belair off the top. Stratton then
kicked Belair and yelled at Stratton to “get out of here.”
Naomi appeared and fought LeRae until Jax plowed through
Naomi. Meanwhile, inside the ring, Belair lifted Stratton
and hit a KOD for the win.
**********
Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin)
defeated A-Town Down Under (Grayson Waller & Austin Theory)
to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship [10:36]
This has been a pretty unremarkable live crowd to begin
with, but boy, did they sit on their hands for this. I
understand MCMG’s gimmick in WWE is “hey, smart fans love
them, so you should, too,” but this is real time evidence
that perhaps not the entire pro wrestling audience lives
online and maybe – just maybe – there are people – families,
even! – that go watch the wrestling matches and tune in
sometimes on TV and that’s about it. I feel bad for Shelley
and Sabin, too, because I’d love to start seeing these live
crowds give them some nice pops, but this match felt like
the 11th hole of a golf tournament on Friday afternoon.
Still, the guys worked hard and both teams did their part as
best they could. I’m just hoping MCMG can get some more
character development sooner than later.
Theory & Waller didn’t get a televised entrance. It wasn’t
until this point that the commentary team recognized the
Grayson Waller Effect being canceled for the night and
instead, the teams were booked to have a match. Theory
started the match with Shelley and had control, until Sabin
tagged in and MCMG hit a mini suite of their double-team
moves on Theory. Waller tagged in after Theory cut Sabin
off, but Sabin worked Waller’s arm instantly. Waller ran the
ropes and took Sabin down. Shelley got in a blind tag and
hit Waller with a forearm and some chops.
Shelley hit a splash on Theory on the outside and sold knee
pain. As a result, Theory held onto Shelley’s leg and Waller
landed an elbow from the top. Waller maintained control and
the show went to a commercial break. The show returned and
Waller and Theory were working over Shelley, complete with a
Theory knee and stereo spinning forearms for a two-count.
Waller threw Shelley to the outside and went for a sliding
clothesline, but Shelley moved. Before long, Shelley kicked
Theory away and moved from a Waller splash attempt to get
the hot tag to Sabin.
Sabin took out Theory and Waller, complete with a missile
dropkick on Theory. With Waller and Theory on the outside of
the ring, Sabin landed a suicide dive through Shelley’s
legs. Back inside the ring, Shelley tagged in and MCMG hit a
double-team move for a two-count on Theory. Shelley went
back to working an arm bar on Theory. Sabin tagged in and
Theory went for A-Town Down, but Waller hit a rolling
Flatliner on Sabin while Sabin tried to roll Theory up. It
resulted in a near-fall.
Waller officially tagged in and went for an elbow from the
second rope, but missed. Shelley tagged in and MCMG hit
super-kicks before landing Skull & Bones on Waller for the
win.
**********
– Michael Cole revealed that Randy Orton is dealing with
“undisclosed cervical injuries” at a local hospital.
– MCMG ran into Ciampa & Gargano backstage, but the Street
Profits walked in to say that next week, the Profits will
face MCMG next week for the tag titles. Shelley and Sabin
said they wanted the match with the Profits and Dawkins, in
his dark voice, said, “Let’s see how you handle real
pressure,” before everyone walked away.
– Nick Aldis was shown in a vignette and talked about the
women’s division. Quickly, Aldis revealed the Women’s United
States Championship. Aldis said it will be for any woman who
wants to seize the moment. Michael Cole touted it as a
brilliant announcement. Graves said it would be a
championship that could take a woman’s career and legacy to
a whole new level.
– Fatu, Tonga and Loa were shown backstage. Solo Sikoa
stepped into the frame, received the Ula Fala, and the four
Tongans started their walk to the ring.
The Bloodline segment
And there it is. Me being old, I would prefer a five-on-five
War Games match, but it’s probably not wise to shoehorn in
one person on each side just for the sake of shoehorning in
one person on each side. There’s just too much history here
to try and force that. Still, this was good. I said at the
beginning of the night that I was running out of patience
for how they were drawing this reunion out, so the
celebratory spot at the end of the show made this viewer
very happy. It’s predictable, but it’s fun, and I mean that
in the most endearing and honest way possible. Now, after
all this, there’s only one real question left: How does Paul
Heyman eventually fit in?
Sikoa said there was only one way to start things off:
“Buffalo, acknowledge me.” A whole bunch of boos erupted
from the crowd. Instantly, Roman’s music hit and Roman
walked out alone. Roman walked up the steps and into the
ring by himself. The crowd chanted “OTC!” Sikoa said it was
good to see Roman and he needed Roman to acknowledge Sikoa
as his undisputed tribal chief. “F— you, Solo!” chants
began. Roman responded by saying, “Buffalo, do you
acknowledge him?” referring to Solo. The crowd booed loudly.
Roman said, simply, “neither do I.”
Roman said he will never acknowledge Solo and instead, he
was there to challenge solo, one-on-one. The winner of the
match, Roman said, will be the only tribal chief. Solo
laughed and said he’s the only tribal chief. Solo said Roman
can’t become a tribal chief because he has no tribe anymore.
Solo then challenged Roman to find four people in the locker
room that would team up with him and they “could go to war.”
Roman asked Solo if he was talking about War Games. Roman
said he only saw four of them. Solo, funnily, counted all of
his guys, including him, and then said the fifth guy will be
“his dog, Sami Zayn.” Sami then appeared in the entranceway
and the Bloodline attacked Roman. Solo jawed at Roman while
the attack when down and the Usos ran out for the save until
Fatu kept things in control. Solo set up for another Samoan
Spike on Roman and invited Zayn into the ring.
Zayn walked into the ring and Solo demanded Zayn kick Roman
in the face. Zayn instead kicked Solo in the face and stared
at Roman. Fatu went at Sami and missed; Roman then Superman
Punched Fatu and Sami hit a Helluva Kick on Fatu. Roman hit
a spear on Solo and only Roman and Sami were left in the
ring. Jey and Jimmy joined them. Jey and Jimmy put up their
fingers. Zayn looked at Roman and put his finger up, too,
acknowledging Roman. Roman nodded and threw his finger up,
too. The four of them stood, index fingers in the air,
standing side by side. The show ended with Roman’s Bloodline
standing tall while Solo looked frustrated.
