Brother
I sometimes overthink things. Maybe it’s a habit of writing or just my creative wheels always spinning, but I can make things more complicated than necessary. The dirty sheets made it known that Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins was the plan for WWE’s summer party. That, along with the plans for Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar (more on that later) made it clear that Oba’s
match at SummerSlam wouldn’t involve a WWE championship. So how would they get to Seth, I wondered. How do you naturally segue Seth into this thing after all this time with The Vision, and with Oba lurking?
Silly me. There’s so much history between these two that all it takes is Seth getting a microphone in his hand and appealing to Roman’s insecurities.
It was a masterclass in weaving a very long story into a few minutes that got to the heart of the matter: Roman and Seth don’t have a lot of time left in their careers, relatively. And despite Roman’s accolades, beating Seth is the one thing he can’t crow about.
Roman did a 180. He went from telling Seth he’s at the back of the line to agreeing with his would be challenger. There isn’t much time left for him to “close the circle.” He doesn’t want to beat Seth; he needs it. He needs his entire family to see it and acknowledge he reigns supreme over everyone. Yup, I see all the wordplay or puns there and I stand by them.
There’s a fascinating dynamic at play whenever these two are in the ring. There’s the history, written and unwritten, and the fact they both know which buttons to push. Seth, particularly, knows where all of Roman’s mental weak spots are. That whole “architect” moniker never felt earned for me except when he’s dealing with his former brother. Every dig hits and Roman’s face betrays his confidence. Seth is the one guy who can get beyond the facade and visibly make Roman uncomfortable.
I wasn’t looking forward to the two dancing again. What more could they do that they haven’t? What story could they tell that I haven’t heard? The idea of Roman finally finishing off his demons, Seth proving his dominance again, all framed within a context that this might be the last time? Yeah, that did it for me.
Dance, fellas. Dance.
B-Sides
- Can Ethan Page withstand an L without losing his heat? We’ll find out. There’s no shame losing to Rey Mysterio because he’s Rey Mysterio. But after defeating Dragon Lee through less than noble means, it feels like a victory against Rey made sense. I don’t want to cry “50/50 booking” just yet because the announcers made it sound like this is far from over, but Rey doesn’t need a victory here. Ethan, a guy still making his name on the main roster, does. I didn’t dislike the match either because both guys are pros. Ethan sells beautifully for faces, while Rey’s always done well making it look like he’s overwhelmed. They even worked some psychology here with Ethan working on Rey’s lower back throughout most of the match. I just didn’t like the ending with Ethan losing cleanly with no obvious opening for a continuation.
- Austin Theory is WWE’s version of “fetch;” they keep trying to make him happen despite all evidence saying they shouldn’t. Let me count the ways. First, Paul Heyman completely blew him off in an earlier segment, which tells the audience this isn’t someone worth your respect and time. Secondly, he hit the ring sans his Vision bruvs for a confrontation with the Street Profits & Joe Hendry, only to sound unenthused on the mic and unconvincing. You ever heard someone reading a script instead of committing it to memory and spitting it out after internalizing it? That was him. To say nothing of him mentioning John Cena gave him the business on the microphone. Lastly, during his match with Joe, which he lost by the way, Atlantic City screamed at him that nobody likes him. That’s tough.
- All that said, The Vision is over, right?
- On the flip side, there’s The Judgment Day looking really strong at the moment. IYO SKY stepped in the ring, mentioned the champ’s name, and out came Liv Morgan. Liv ran down the list of people who crossed her (Finn Balor, Stephanie Vaquer, Mami Ripley) and reminded IYO what happened to all of them. For the record, two of them are perfectly fine but I got her point. It was a nice heel promo from Liv filled with dickhead energy and dripping with condescension. Oh, and annoying too, but in a good way. I mentioned the Judgment Day’s strength because while Liv kept IYO looking one way, Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez snuck up from behind. This is pro wrestling so you know what happened here, and no, it wasn’t a dance off. Although that would definitely bring life to the idea that anything can happen on Raw. After it looked like IYO might escape danger, nah. Liv locked her in the half crab and the challenger screamed in anguish. IYO, someone who relied on her partnership with Rhea for months, now has to go dolo to defeat a crew. That’s a hell of a story to tell.
- The story with LA Knight, The Usos, and Solo Sikoa turns. LA faced Jimmy Uso with Jey on commentary. LA kept one eye on Jey, which proved a smart move since that distraction ultimately cost him the match. The story was about what came after: Solo showed up and hit Jimmy with a Samoan Spike. That backed up his words from the most recent SmackDown about his dislike for his family.
- Making matters worse for the twins? I really do love calling them the twins. Anyway, what really took the jelly out of their donuts was Jacob Fatu not having their back when they needed it. Why? Because he doesn’t’ take orders from them. He’s on his way to SmackDown on behalf of the OTC.
- “Dominik Mysterio deserves to go BACK to jail!” I cackled.
- I dug Lyra Valkyria’s video promo. She looked tired, stressed, and like someone who hasn’t slept a wink since Night of Champions. She sounded desperate, angry, at her wits end, and shocked people even questioned why she betrayed Bayley. It was a nice snidely heel promo that paints her as the victim tired of being held back. Keep chirping, bird lady.
- I can’t make heads or tails of Maxxine Dupri at the moment. Pro: Everything she said and did with Chad Gable last week. Con: How swiftly and decisively Raquel defeated her this week for a shot at Sol Ruca. Pro: Her interaction with Chad this week where he apologized for how she said what she said but not what she said. Maxxine and Chad had a very adult interaction where the latter explained she can accept his apology when she’s ready but it’s unimportant at the moment. Also con: WWE finally putting words to whatever is going on between her and Austin, only for it to still be shrouded in mystery. Austin, the man who spent the entire episode getting sonned, somehow lords emotional power over her. He took suitcases worth of umbrage with her semi-patching things up Chad. So much so that he said her doing that put “this” in jeopardy. What the heck is “this”? Did WWE ever define “this”? Why do I care about “this”? More to the point, why does she care about it after watching Paul E. and Joseph freaking Hendry embarrass Austin back to back? Girl, is “this” really worth it if it involves him?
- I initially had a lot to say about Oba and Brock but it’s kinda simple now: Oba wants Brock more than a championship at this point, so he’s willing to forgo his championship match at SummerSlam to get his hands on The Beast. These two had a dope opening segment where Brock uttered words sure to be on a t-shirt in the near future, kicked Oba in the balls, and hit him with an F5. Oba, to his credit, still believes Brock is a biotch, so now they’re fighting at SummerSlam in Hell in a Cell. Does it devalue King of the Ring if said King can just say “nah” to his championship match? And does that make the crown like the Money in the Bank briefcase where Oba can just cash it in whenever he wants? I would say if the plan was always him vs. Brock at SummerSlam, maybe don’t make him king? Yeah, that sounds more apt.
This was a pretty dope night of wrestling television. Not flawless (anything with Austin Theory was meh) but felt urgent and featured solid wrestling. The opening and closing segments boosted the show for me.
What say you, Cagesiders? Can Oba just “cash in” his title shot at anytime?
