SmackDown kicked off in style with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman striding to the ring to recap the past couple of weeks, and introduce the Universal Champion’s cousin Jey Uso.
Heyman insisted the Big Dog was behind Uso getting into last week’s Number One Contender’s match, but Roman insists his “brother” has nothing to thank him for.
Reigns said he’s going to kick his cousin’s ass just like he did when they were kids, but Jey insisted a lot has changed as we edge closer to WWE Clash of Champions.
King Corbin interrupted and described the whole situation as nepotism while accusing Roman of abusing his power.
The revolving door continued with Sheamus coming out to say his piece about last week’s match, which set up the night’s main event.
Brilliantly, Roman didn’t come out to start the match with his cousin, instead leaving Jey to effectively take on Corbin and Sheamus in a handicap match.
He fought well, but Reigns stayed true to his new attitude as he came down to pick up the scraps and steal the win.
Best of the rest
Backstage, Sami Zayn was raging over the graphic for the opening Intercontinental Title match between AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy as he once again claimed he was the rightful champ.
Zayn came out to stop the match itself, but Adam Pearce brought out security to get him out of the ThunderDome so the opening contest could finally get underway.
It was all going very well until Sami returned to take out AJ as he set up for a Phenomenal Forearm, and laid out Jeff with a Helluva Kick to stand tall with his title.
When we came back from the break, WWE took a big cheap shot at AEW’s incident last weekend, confirming that Jeff never lost consciousness.
Elsewhere, Street Profits turned up in the champions lounge to set up their match with Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura for Raw, and the latter two then tested their skills against Lucha House Party.
The two teams are incapable of having a bad match together in any combination, but Street Profits caused a distraction on the big screen, letting Kalisto steal the win for his team.
Fans were also treated to a typically brilliant promo from Bayley as she revealed she knew Sasha Banks was chasing her title, using her to find success – but the feeling was mutual.
The Role Model kept it short and sweet, sitting on a symbolic steel chair in the middle of the ring and insisting the Boss is ‘useless’ to her now.
On her way out, she attacked Nikki Cross, who was making her entrance for the Number One Contender’s match to determine Bayley’s challenger for Clash of Champions.
She was deemed fit enough to compete with Alexa Bliss, Lacey Evans and Tamina, as all four women put on a decent showing with a huge twist coming as Bliss hit her BFF with the Sister Abigail and walked out of the ThunderDome with a blank look in her eyes.
Nikki was able to withstand the punishment as the match heated up on the home stretch, and she pinned Tamina to earn herself another shot at Bayley and the gold.
Otis picked up more momentum as he made relatively short – and convincing – work of John Morrison after Miz took the Heavy Machinery star’s Money In The Bank lunchbox, but the contract wasn’t inside.
Finally, Bray Wyatt introduced everyone to his new Firefly Fun House friend as the Wobbly Walrus – an apparent parody of Paul Heyman – made an understated but fun debut.
Quickfire results
- IC Title: AJ Styles defeated Jeff Hardy (c) via DQ
- Lucha House Party beat Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro
- Number One Contender’s: Nikki Cross defeated Tamina, Lacey Veabs about Alexa Bliss
- Otis pinned John Morrison
- Roman Reigns and Jey Uso beat King Corbin and Sheamus
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