The WWE Universe was flipped off it's axis at SummerSlam with not one but two historic returns. Roman Reigns could not believe his misfortune when he stood face to face against the Conqueror Brock Lesnar who made his first appearance in over a year. His former advocate and Roman's council Paul Heyman looked as uncomfortable as anyone could possibly be as Brock made his return and signalled his intentions very clearly he wants a shot at Roman Reigns.

Then in a remarkable moment The Man Becky Lynch shocked the world when she defeated the EST of the WWE Bianca Belair in a matter of seconds. Belair was clearly taken off-guard by The Man so what will her response be this Friday?

Edge promised he'd break Seth Rollins and he delivered when he forced the former WWE Champion and WWE Universal Champion to submit in a brutal match. What's next for both men as we gear up for Extreme Rules?

I just wanna say, them trying to make BROOD EDGE the new Painmaker or The Demon King or whatever is the dumbest, goofiest shit in the universe. Edge wasn't even a guy in The Brood, he was a henchman who got the piss whipped out of him by The Undertaker six times a Smackdown. He should be WEAKER than Rated R Superstar Edge, if anything.

Aug 22, 2021 22:52:08 GMT KITN said:

I just wanna say, them trying to make BROOD EDGE the new Painmaker or The Demon King or whatever is the dumbest, goofiest shit in the universe. Edge wasn't even a guy in The Brood, he was a henchman who got the piss whipped out of him by The Undertaker six times a Smackdown. He should be WEAKER than Rated R Superstar Edge, if anything.

I understand your logic, but we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm not an Edge fan, never really have been, but even I got a kick out of his entrance. I thought, with it switching up, it was more meant to represent his evolution from beginning of his career to possibly the end. Part of me just wishes they'd figured out a way to include You Think You Know Me and Rob Zombie's Never Gonna Stop themes into it all somehow.

You're reading too much into The Brood stuff. Edge's character arc is that Seth Rollins has pushed him to the edge, where he needs to go to a dark place to survive because Rollins is threatening to end his career. He's not becoming The Brood version of himself, that was just a cute Attitude Era reference that not many people in the crowd gets and perhaps wasn't strictly necessary.

Let's talk about Finn Balor.

Finn Balor returns to the main roster in all his glory, beats up Baron Corbin. Challenges Roman Reigns, who accepts with respect. Gets robbed of his contract by John Cena. Cuts a promo the following week implying that he wants to fight Cena, saying he won't meekly submit to what just happened. Then vanishes off the face of the earth, Cena and Reigns have some face to face talks, Reigns beats Cena, enter Brock Lesnar.

Balor's really been booked like crap hasn't he? Unless Cena sticks around to work another match with Balor, I'm not sure why they even wrote Balor to challenge Reigns in the first place.

Aug 23, 2021 14:15:18 GMT Emperor said:

Let's talk about Finn Balor.

Finn Balor returns to the main roster in all his glory, beats up Baron Corbin. Challenges Roman Reigns, who accepts with respect. Gets robbed of his contract by John Cena. Cuts a promo the following week implying that he wants to fight Cena, saying he won't meekly submit to what just happened. Then vanishes off the face of the earth, Cena and Reigns have some face to face talks, Reigns beats Cena, enter Brock Lesnar.

Balor's really been booked like crap hasn't he? Unless Cena sticks around to work another match with Balor, I'm not sure why they even wrote Balor to challenge Reigns in the first place.

I'd be down for a Lesnar/Balor/Reigns triple threat. Could see it being even better than my beloved Lesnar/Seth/Cena triple threat.

It's Vince and Prichard. Vince sees Balor as part of the problem because Balor was a focus of NXT when NXT lost to Dynamite. So he's pretty much fucked.

I don’t understand the having Balor come out to challenge Reigns thing at all. I mean we all knew it wasn’t going to happen, so why delay Reigns/Cena for a week just to set that up and why did Corbin move on to steal the briefcase rather than making that more of a Summerslam match and why did Baron Corbin stealing the Momey in the Bank briefcase require Big E to beat him to “win it back” and oh no I’ve talked myself in circles.

Yeah, Balor’s return was wasted. I mean I don’t think he’ll probably ever go above IC/US title status in WWE again, but oof. That shoulder injury really changed his career trajectory.

Pat McAfee tested positive for COVID-19. Guess he won't be on Smackdown. Maybe he could call the action remotely if he's feeling well enough?

Aug 26, 2021 14:05:41 GMT Emperor said:

Pat McAfee tested positive for COVID-19. Guess he won't be on Smackdown. Maybe he could call the action remotely if he's feeling well enough?

Yinz because he's from Pittsburgh, babay!!~

Rent free.

My guess is Brock shows up and beats down the Usos in that celebration.

Now that's a happy Corbin.

Is he gonna have a fistfight with Drew Carey at the celebrity pro-am next?

Baron Corbin is my favorite part of Smackdown that isn’t Roman Reigns related.

I'm loving the love Corbin is getting now.

Smackdown starts, out comes Becky Lynch. She talks about how giving up the Raw women's championship was the hardest thing she had to do, and that she has been working very hard to get back. While I'm sure all of this is true, the tale she tells of woe and struggle rings a bit hollow considering she just waltzed back in and got the championship back in a matter of seconds. Then follows the tried and tested heel move "I'm sorry...NOT LOL". Nobody saw that coming, right?

So out comes the entire Smackdown women's division (all four of them) to challenge Becky, stuff happens, and I'm moving on.

Anyway, onto the real reason I tuned in to Smackdown. Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, and the man in the middle. Paul Heyman. The Usos smell a rat and don't trust Heyman. Makes sense. We know how Heyman has treated his clients in the past when someone more promising comes along. Especially since that more promising person is Heyman's biggest success story. No sign of Brock, Balor challenges Reigns, great.

I didn't really expect Brock to show up on Smackdown, but I expected something more than what we got. This is gonna be a slow burn I suppose.

So "Happy Corbin" is absolutely gonna be an excuse to cut Cameron Grimes in two months.

HEY!!! My province just got a shoutout on SmackDown!

Is Becky's character that of a bargain bin Connor McGregor?

Is there another Irish potato famine? I couldn't believe how lean Finn is looking these days.

I watched the Becky promo and the main event. I like Finn and thought they did right by him (well until Roman kicked out of his finish and won a minute later), but the hint at the demon coming back made me cringe a little. I like Finn, we all like Finn, and I like the Demon too…but bringing him out in paint to job to Roman again doesn’t really do anything for me. Finn would’ve been a nice change of pace from Bobby Lashley, but putting him on Smackdown relegates him to “good, but definitely not the guy that will dethrone Roman”.

The Becky promo feels like it’s too much too fast with the comic bad girl thinf, but I think the real problem is that Bianca isn’t a good enough baby face to help Becky make the transition. Like yesterday if she’s not happy about how things went at Sunmerslam and wants a match, why is she standing at the top of the ramp doing the hair twirl and doing the butt slap when she gets on the apron and whatever else. Come out like you mean it.

Sept 5, 2021 4:06:57 GMT mikec said:

I watched the Becky promo and the main event. I like Finn and thought they did right by him (well until Roman kicked out of his finish and won a minute later), but the hint at the demon coming back made me cringe a little. I like Finn, we all like Finn, and I like the Demon too…but bringing him out in paint to job to Roman again doesn’t really do anything for me. Finn would’ve been a nice change of pace from Bobby Lashley, but putting him on Smackdown relegates him to “good, but definitely not the guy that will dethrone Roman”.

The Becky promo feels like it’s too much too fast with the comic bad girl thinf, but I think the real problem is that Bianca isn’t a good enough baby face to help Becky make the transition. Like yesterday if she’s not happy about how things went at Sunmerslam and wants a match, why is she standing at the top of the ramp doing the hair twirl and doing the butt slap when she gets on the apron and whatever else. Come out like you mean it.

Your last point is part of a larger problem with WWE these days and how over produced it is. Everyone is made to get their shit in, whether it’s the poses and ring entrance, the finisher to the hard cam etc etc

Was really noticeable a while back, I think in NXT, when Rhea was doing a run in to save someone and she still did her entrance pose at the top of the ramp before running down for the awkward save. It’s stuff like that and ALWAYS playing their music for a surprise run in.

Its a circus, that's why. It's intended for a casual fan that doesn't really pay attention nor care for the detail.

It's light entertainment now. You can literally go to a WWE show, not knowing a thing about the product and figure each character out in a matter of seconds. It would also explain the repetitive nature of it, because they're just replying the same act every week.

I’ve found my enjoyment go up by not religiously watching the weekly shows. I’m in the UK so I can’t really watch live all the time, but I do try and if I fall asleep I just catch the bits I want on YouTube.

Talking Smack and Raw Talk are actually great for keeping up with the storylines if you don’t watch the main show, they are short and keep you up date with a little extra background. Between that and just watching the PPVs, since they always do a good job on the promo packages, I’ve found this to be the most enjoyable way of watching without feeling dragged down by the TV shows.

1st it was Jey, then Jimmy, now. it's Heyman's turn to prove his loyalty to the tribal chief.

Sept 9, 2021 22:04:45 GMT Ed said:

1st it was Jey, then Jimmy, now. it's Heyman's turn to prove his loyalty to the tribal chief.

HEYMAN v Reigns in the cell, book it

Interesting since Heyman never truly disowned Lesner publicly. If I remember correctly, Heyman suggested that Lesner cast him aside. A lot of meat in this storyline. I hope it builds slowly.

So Demon Balor is winning the title at ER, or Demon Balor is getting his first main roster loss to Reigns.

Seriously the make up ladies who do Balor's art are underrated af.

Demon Finn just randomly showing up is a little odd.