It's so good that at times, it's better than NXT which I would slap myself if I said that a few years ago.
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Roman Reigns Blamed Adam Pearce For What?
The Universal champion himself, Roman Reigns, started off the program once again and this time, he talks about how he didn't want to hurt Kevin Owens because he cares about everybody in the locker room as the head of the table.
The champ called out Adam Pearce and Roman blamed Adam Pearce for not taking responsibility for his actions as a WWE official and how he has to do the work that Pearce doesn’t.
Roman then assumed that Adam Pearce insulted his family and proceeded to get physical (not that type of physical you f'ing weirdos) but Paul Heyman talked Reigns out of it.
I, like pretty much all of you, came out of watching this segment like, "Is WWE declaring Adam Pearce as the number one contender for the universal championship?"
The segment did open my curiosity as to whether Adam Pearce is the contender or not so it did its job.
Big E vs Apollo Crews For The Intercontinental Championship.
The match concluded with Apollo Crews hitting the superplex that led to a double pinfall to end the match with a draw.
Now, you would think that it would've been the PERFECT opportunity to turn Apollo Crews heel, right?
Nope, they instead restarted the match that had a very nice back and forth between both guys.
Unfortunately for Apollo, his athletism wasn't enough for him to capture the championship as Big E retained the championship with the big ending.
Over-complicating writing aside, the match was actually fun to watch.
I wouldn't mind the double pin finish had Apollo actually turned heel because the payoff will hopefully be an entertaining heel run but it is what it is, I guess.
Bayley and Bianca Belair announced that they'll enter the women's Royal Rumble match.
Carmella comments on Sasha Banks being number one wrestler of the year on Sports Illustrated saying that even though she does the least amount of work, she's still better than Banks.
A promo that I've heard a few times before but it was aight.
The Street Profits vs Dolph Ziggler And Robert Roode For The SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
The story being told in this bout was Montez Ford's knee injury and the question is, did he overcome his injury and led his partner to victory?
The answer is, surprisingly, no thanks to a great looking double team spinebuster into a zig-zag manoeuvre from the heel team.
A fun tag team title match from a feud that I didn't care about at all.
Coming out of watching the series of segments between Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville, it looks like Deville was hired by Pearce as an assistant of some sort?
I'm glad she's back but the explanation feels empty.
Riott Squad was given a resume by Billie Kay in a backstage segment. All I can say is, I thought that was funny.
A Gauntlet Match To Determine The Number One Contender For The Universal Championship.
Paul Heyman basically told Adam Pearce in a backstage scene earlier in the night that Peace is in the gauntlet match.
So, my suspicion from earlier basically came true.
Rey Mysterio got rid of Sami Zayn pretty quickly but he struggled to do the same with Shinsuke Nakamura.
Mysterio tapped out of the armbar from Nakamura and King Corbin showed up as the next opponent, immediately taking out Rey and Dominik Mysterio before the commercial break.
Despite Corbin's few moments of dominance, Shinsuke Nakamura immediately nailed the big man with the Kinshasa finish.
Daniel Bryan was the second last opponent in this gauntlet bout and I was glued to my screen for obvious reasons.
Shinsuke shocked me once again with the sudden Kinshasa on Bryan to advance in the gauntlet match.
To which, Bryan immediately paid respect to Shinsuke Nakamura and Nakamura paid that respect back (is Shinsuke a babyface?).
Both Roman Reigns and Jey Uso relentlessly attacked Shinsuke Nakamura and Roman told Adam Pearce to pin a beat-up Nakamura.
Jey Uso kicked Pearce right on the face and dragged Pearce on to Nakamura.
The ref counted the pin to 3 and that's how the show ended with Adam Pearce as THE number one contender for the blue belt.
What you just saw right there was Roman Reigns exercising his means of power to keep the championship as long as possible.
This tells the audience that Roman is smarter than a lot of people think because we have been used to over the years, see Roman Reigns as a one-dimensional muscle with cheesy one-liners.
The thing that a gauntlet match does highlight greatly is how it showcases the talent’s strength, building momentum in the process.
And that's exactly what they did with Shinsuke Nakamura.
Overall, this entire thing was fanfreakingtastic.
So, to recap for all of you slow mofos.
Like: Opening segment, Big E vs Apollo Crews, gauntlet match, Street Profits vs Dolph Ziggler And Robert Roode.
Didn't like: The explanation of Sonya Deville return, for now, feels empty, the Over-complicating writing in the Big E and Apollo Crews bout.
Sound off in the comments below on what do you think about this week's episode of Friday Night Smackdown? Follow the blog for honest pro wrestling opinions as well my Twitter @omartheplayaguy and my Facebook page Playard Wrestling Post. As Always, stay safe smarks.
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