The American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, hosted SmackDown this week, as we now move toward October’s Hell in a Cell event. While not officially announced yet, I’d imagine we will see a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Seth Rollins and Kane to accompany the Hell in a Cell match between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker. I like how WWE’s written Kane back into storylines and it makes complete sense, but I’m hoping this will be just a one-off match and we don’t get more matches between the two at Survivor Series and TLC, respectively.
Paige delivered another good promo, but now I’m a little bit confused as to how this entire angle will go. Natalya was basically introduced into the story, there’s no Sasha Banks, and Paige’s actions are apparently due to the fact she wants credit for the Divas Revolution. And now that Charlotte is the new champion, apparently she’s not happy. Not a whole lot making sense there.
Here are the main stories coming out of SmackDown:
A newly energetic Corporate Kane, with a fantastic hairstyle, opened up SmackDown on Thursday with a great promo. I hated the Corporate Kane character before he was put out of action by Brock Lesnar, but this character has won me over in almost record time.
Kane said WWE needed someone that could handle the heat, and that’s why he decided to come back. He decided to go on a matchmaking spree, putting together a Kevin Owens/Rusev vs. Ryback/Dolph Ziggler tag team match. But that wasn’t all!
Kane barred Dean Ambrose and the Wyatt Family from ringside for the Roman Reigns and Luke Harper match, which the crowd popped very loudly for.
Alas, hark! Seth Rollins is alive and so is his theme music! Rollins came out on the stage, returned from hell rather quickly, and yelled at Kane for having a split personality, basically. Kane’s reaction?
“Who’s standing right here? Who’s speaking to you right now? Some demon from the depths of hell who is determined to inflict immeasurable suffering on you until you scream in agony!?”
According to Corporate Kane, nope. He’s the man in a suit, Rollins’ friend, and the guy who helped him become champion. No need to worry here. Rollins just has to face Dean Ambrose in the main event.
Good match. Good ending. I’m really enjoying the storytelling between Rollins and Kane. I may be the only one that is. I think it’s a good placeholder feud for October, and hopefully we’ll be seeing a new contender for Rollins’ title in November.
After about four months of teaming with Charlotte and Becky Lynch, Paige said she’s never been a team player during her promo on Thursday night. Apparently, Paige wants all the credit for the Divas Revolution and isn’t getting it – which begs the question, why is she turning on her protégé when she won the Divas Championship on Sunday night? Confuzzled.
Natalya entered the arena and tried to talk some sense into Paige, which was met with a slap to her face. At least Natalya is back? I’m in for a feud with the new blood of the division vs. the wily veterans if that’s what this ultimately leads to.
One glaring mistake though – where is Sasha Banks?
WWE is really pushing the October 3rd show from Madison Square Garden, and part of me thinks we may see something big on that show in order to get some more subscriptions for the WWE Network. Judging from the backstage promo from the Dudley Boyz, it wouldn’t surprise me to see them win their 10th WWE Tag Team Championship in their backyard. I won’t mind it as long as we haven’t seen the last of The New Day as Tag Team Champions.
Match rundown
• Roman Reigns d. Luke Harper by pinfall via the spear.
• Six-Man Tag: The New Day (c) d. Neville and Lucha Dragons by pinfall after Xavier Woods nailed Sin Cara with a knee to the face.
• Cesaro d. Bo Dallas by pinfall via a modified Oklahoma Roll.
• Ryback and Dolph Ziggler d. Kevin Owens (c-IC) and Rusev by pinfall after Ziggler nailed Rusev with a superkick, then Ryback hit him with Shell Shocked. Owens left ringside, which distracted Rusev.
• Non-Title: Dean Ambrose d. Seth Rollins (c) by pinfall via a rollup after Kane’s music started playing, distracting Rollins.