Roman Reigns: ‘Join me And Acknowledge Big Jim’

SmackDown was live from Greenville, South Carolina, at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena with a capacity of 16,000. With the streak of sellouts and big-ticket sales that WWE has managed this year, it would be a no-brainer to see the same from a show promoting Roman Reigns and the aftermath of Bad Blood. However, the Carolinas suffered a major catastrophe caused by Hurricane Helene.

The Lil and Big Bro An Em Complex?

By the time the music stopped and was replaced by ‘OTC’ chants from the fans, Roman Reigns was taken aback with the mic in his hand—mirroring images of his cousin’s own prime when The Rock would stop and soak in the energy because the fans genuinely popped for everything you did. That is where Roman Reigns is in his career, and he no longer needs that ‘Royal Rumble rub’ to get over with the fans. In fact, Roman is over with the fans in a way that The Rock no longer is—don’t get it wrong, The Rock moves the needle in a way that no other active wrestler on the planet can, and it is incredibly unfair to hold any star of any genre to that of a crossover superstar.

However, the current product’s fans, the ones that keep watching in the summer when The Rock was wrestling with his monthly planner so that he could make a couple of movie premieres in between the two or sometimes three projects he was working on all these years. You cannot fault The Rock for chasing the kind of stardom that everyone chases just because he was the only one to catch it—exactly in the same kind of way that you cannot blame a fanbase that recognizes THEIR ‘Tribal Chief.’

Roman’s ‘face’ booking is now in full gear as he made it a point to have the fans acknowledge the returning Jimmy Uso. However, Jimmy felt less nostalgic after checking Roman on “being The One’s” to the fans’ response to “Yes, you are” in immediate response to Jimmy’s denial.

Jimmy reminds everyone that Roman is a chief with ‘no tribe’ before revealing that Jimmy is the only member who ‘still recognizes him.’

Crown Jewel Shills And Thrills

It is difficult to know what moments planned for future WWE programming will reveal major plot points, but with Crown Jewel taking place three weeks from Saturday, a pause feels likely for any major in-brand programs. That is because the major selling point for this year’s Saudi shindig is a ‘champion vs. champion’ promotional tagline that will likely pit Cody Rhodes against RAW’s Gunther and Liv Morgan taking on Nia Jaxx (for now).

Promotionally, it feels like a mid-season tournament akin to what the NBA now utilizes—an idea derived from many European football leagues. Essentially, WWE is saying we’re booking according to where they are in the schedule.

The Main Event: Solo Sikoa vs. Jimmy Uso

The returning Jimmy was given prime placement on the card as he main-evented against Solo. It is not clear who is pulling The Bloodline strings, and nobody expected this episode to reveal it, but the two received plenty of TV time for their match. The length of the match was used to show how effective the Bloodline is at interfering and that when you fight one, you fight them all—but this we already know. Jimmy lost the uphill battle, and that is when the BL swarmed him post-match. Roman came out for the save, but it made you wonder why he wasn’t already out there. Roman’s attempts were futile as the numbers game favored TBL once again.

Roman must come to terms with his ‘lack of a tribe’ and find a way to build allies at this stage in the feud. The numbers game is undefeated, and before Roman can attempt to rectify his WM loss to Rhodes, he will have to contend with being solo while trying to defeat a Solo-led faction.

K.O. Says ‘No-No’ To Who “Turned” On Who

Kevin Owens came out in the middle of the challengers’ entrance to explain that he did not turn on Cody Rhodes, but rather, “Cody Rhodes turned on me.” He was in the middle of explaining his circular logic when his mic was caught off, and production members attempted to get him out of the ‘planned’ segment. K.O. jumped on commentary to continue his promo when Cody Rhodes came out, and that’s when all hell let loose. After many WWE staff and security attempted to keep Rhodes and Owens apart, Randy Orton, who has tagged with K.O. in one of the most over teams of the summer, intervened between two of his closest friends within the company. But in the middle of it all, Owens accidentally, or not, caught Randy with an elbow, to which he responded by knocking down K.O. with a right hand.

Owens looked stunned, and his eyes read ‘betrayal’ as he stared back at Orton. Owens walked off shocked, and without any promo dialogue, we now know who Orton ‘stands with,’ at least from Owens’s perspective.

This was a fantastic segment designed to get real heat on Owens. At a time when WWE is receiving fair criticism of how they book female talent, they use it to get heat on Owens while making Cody look strong. It is a risk for a company that needs as much positive publicity as they can get for their treatment of women, and the match continued, so it’s not like their spot was taken. In fact, after the tag match, we saw Randy talking to Cody and telling him that he would ‘speak to Owens’ so that he could calm down from a stressful situation. GM Aldis commented on Orton being the “voice of reason,” a role he is unfamiliar with despite his veteran tenure.

Later in the evening, cameras picked up K.O. delivering a beating to Orton and screaming, “you picked the wrong side” at his former tag partner. The beating took place by the trucks in a familiar setting to the footage showing Owens beating down Rhodes.

Women’s Tag Team Title Match

The challengers were booked stronger than expected, but the only team they ‘got over’ on was Chelsea Green and Doudrop. Cargill and Belair retained their titles in a segment that will mostly be remembered by the pre-match antics. The champs need a legitimate challenge, but that would mean investing in another team and booking them strong for weeks.

In-Ring Action: LA Knight (US Champ) vs. Carmelo Hayes

Hayes looked great in a losing effort, but the match was merely to further the rivalry with Andrade. And though Andrade never got physically involved, he was certainly an active distraction in the backdrop. The match was fun, which is a good thing for Knight because he has not been put in the best performance situations as of late considering his booking, but he is the kind of talent that is always capable of stealing the show. Hayes would later complain to Aldis about Andrade ‘interfering’ in his US title match, which he earned by beating AJ Styles. So, Aldis booked Andrade and Melo for a trilogy currently tied at 1-1.

Naomi pulled off the pinfall victory over champion Jax in an impromptu non-title match booked following a Jax promo. It was a fun match, but Liv used Stratton’s MITB briefcase to help Naomi get her biggest win in quite some time. The aftermath of the match was even better as Rhea Ripley made a special appearance on the blue brand, attempting retribution on The Judgement Day, specifically Raquel.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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