We Take a Brief Detour to Saturday Night: Main Event!

A Good Weekend to You, Enthusiasts!

How are you all doing? I’m not sure how to approach these SNME shows just yet. They’re not quite a PPV but they’re not regularly scheduled like RAW and SmackDown so I’ll be playing with how I handle these. Not much has happened in the course of about 24 hours but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about. Let’s see what’s interesting.

For whatever it’s worth, last night’s SmackDown did a fair job of setting the scene. The primary focus remained on Money in the Bank, as it should be, but we had Drew McIntyre battle through with Damian Priest and R-Truth gave us an impassioned promo on how if need be, he’d beat the John Cena he once knew back into him. Fine by me. 

For me, however, the highlight was seeing Aleister Malakai Black and Shinsuke Nakamura throwdown. Though I playfully booed whenever LA Knight got into the mix, I thought him just playing smart rather than try to hang was a wise decision. Knight can rock the mic but his in-ring skills are okay. Playing with the best should improve one by default but it’s not where his talents lie. I appreciated him proceeding with that in mind. It made his win believable. The underdog can succeed yet in the WWE Universe, we prefer to see them “figure it out” as opposed to have the script go in their favor. The latter implies that the more skilled opponents simply take a dive. Sometimes, that includes hijinks (“knocked out” ref, interference, etc.).

The close of last night’s show also gave us a glimpse of the future as the Wyatt Sicks arrived in the wake of the late Bray Wyatt’s birthday. I’m thinking they’ll find their way to Black and Finn Bálor in time. Patience, friends. The Road must be Paved (^_~)

As for tonight’s action, I’m most curious about is the Logan Paul vs. Jey Uso match for the Heavyweight Championship. They’re kinda lightweight for the Title but what they don’t have in pounds they have in notoriety. We know Paul whether we want to or not and Jey has been a mainstay for as long as most of us can remember. I don’t doubt this will be a good match but will it be a fair one?

We can probably expect Paul to rig the game but with the likes of Solo Sikoa trying to woo back Jimmy Uso last night, could the Bloodline 2.0 crash and set Jey up for success as incentive to return? Would Jey take that sort of opportunity? Personally, given Paul would screw him over without thinking about it, there shouldn’t be much hesitation but Jey would have to know that Sikoa would expect something in return. It’s that fact that may make him opt for a DQ. At least in that case, he keeps the title. We’ll see how the dramatics unfold. 

Besides that, I can’t help but wonder how R-Truth taking on John Cena would play out. I’m not expecting a Truth win but he’s still spry enough to make it more competitive than you’d think. He may even break Cena a few times but I anticipate Cena keeping his game face on in the end. Cena seems set on “destroying wrestling” and ending R-Truth is a good place to start. 

As for the other matches, they just have to keep it interesting. I see that they added a Ladies match with Zelina Vega and Chelsea Green throwing down for the US Championship. CM Punk and Sami Zayn are going to have stay focused on the endgame to prove challenging to Bron Breakker and Seth Rollins.  Damian Priest just has to do his best not to try to beat the Steel Cage Match Drew McIntyre and Punk had. McIntyre kinda has it easy in that regard. Priest is the one who has to prove himself here so, if I’m McIntyre, I’m doing everything I can to make sure this is a “bad day”, and “embarrassing” one too if particularly motivated. 

So, I guess what I’m really saying is that for everyone else, this is a character building day. We should see how Punk and Zayn work together while Breakker gets introduced to life under The Architect. Priest should show us what he’s made of while McIntyre tries to send him to therapy and/or put him in traction, either or is fine. The ladies just have to do their best. They could be considered and afterthought so it’s up to them to make it clear that shouldn’t be the case. 

That’s how I’m coming into this. I’m expecting a solid show and a fun one seeing how a lot of eyes may just be on it due to the 3-day weekend. I’m about to make myself comfortable and get the burgers and bräts going so, random family will be witnessing whether they want to or not. See what I mean? It’s a good time to try and grab new fans. Someone who just happened to stop by may get hooked. They should never miss the chance. That all said, the unofficial watch party will start at 5pm PDT. We all have to mind the schedule. This is live and on broadcast, old school rules.

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)