Sheamus kicks Big E in the jaw. "Just a reminder: this is all perfectly legal in a no disqualification match." Thanks, Graves. I was wondering.

I see they went with the next best thing here...throwaway match on Smackdown.

[ ] white hot
[ ] wait for a crowd
[x] throwaway

Problem with Sasha/Bayley is both were so unlikable for so long that it's hard for there to be as much audience investment in it as there should be. It's not like the Charlotte/Becky feud where Becky was so likable and there was catharsis in seeing her snap and go after Charlotte. I get they wanted to do the HIAC match but I think they should have been setting up the babyface turn for longer. It'll still be a great match and maybe they can have a longer feud where Sasha becomes more and more likable as it goes on.

I do think we're sort of seeing the gap between Becky and Sasha/Bayley in terms of cutting promos, building hype, and selling a match (I miss Becky). To be fair, not having real crowds also hurts a ton.

That was my point about the crowd, or lack thereof.
I thought Sasha/Bailey did an above average work despite having no crowd. If they could've feeded from live fans, it could've been even better imo.

It's nothing against Becky, who did remarkable work.

Reigns is just in another stratosphere from everyone else right now. Makes his last 6 years all the more frustrating

Explain

He's been incredible as a heel. WWE didn't have to wait this long to turn him.

The hesitation was really weird. They had the playbook from when they moon-pushed Rocky Maivia before he was at all ready and the fans weren't having it. And that's just the most prominent example of a heel turn saving a botched early face push. I really think there had to be a big element of Vince pridefully digging in and not wanting to let the booing smarks push him around.

He’s a heel now?

Bout god damned time (haven’t seen since pre-covid)

Not sure if it's SkySports or WWE's fault, but they've gone to commercial so far:

- in the middle of a somersault plancha from Cedric Alexander to all of Retribution
- while The Fiend appears on the Titantron

At least they got rid of that garbage RAW theme, though

Also - having Retribution wrestle their first match together on RAW is a pretty big botch - should've saved it for...some PPV

Oh, Fiend burying them by himself, now it makes sense

Poor Ali, wasn't even given a chance

At first I read that as "burying himself," and I had fond flashbacks to Sheamus at HHH and Friends.

Bad feeling Lana beats Asuka for the title here considering how the rest of this show has gone

CM Punk later came out and asked The Fiend if he could wear his mask

Asuka feuding with both the Women's Tag Team Champions, now where have I seen that before...

Now that Roman and Seth are on the same brand, I'm realizing they have the same heel gimmick. They should form some sort of a team, maybe call themselves something like...the Shield?

I could see Rollins still feuding with Mysterio into Wrestlemania -_-

Man Reigns is so great

Roman Reigns is the best sports entertainer in the world right now.

Whoever is writing this angle is off the charts good. Roman is playing his part well.

I can't remember a character I've fully bought into more than Tribal Chief Reigns since maybe voice of the voiceless CM Punk and before that, I'd have to go to back to the attitude era.

As high of praise as it's getting I feel it's actually being underrated. I honestly wonder what he thought about to make himself flood into tears like that.

Just your weekly reminder that Smackdown is the best wrestling show on TV in a walk right now