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WWE Smackdown – Roman Reigns Shows Jey Uso Tough Love

In the third part of Bleeding Cool's WWE Smackdown report, Bayley and Sasha Banks sign a contract, and Roman Reigns kills Braun Strowman to prove a point to Jey Uso.

Welcome to Bleeding Cool's WWE Smackdown report. We watch WWE, so you don't have to. You're welcome!

WWE Smackdown Report for October 16th, 2020 Part 3

Sasha Banks is in the ring to sign a contract with Bayley for a Hell in a Cell match next week. Bayley comes out. She brings a chair with her. Adam Pearce is officiating this contract signing. He gives a stupid little speech and gives Sasha the contract to sign first. Sasha signs it. Then she grabs the mic.

"I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time," she says.

Bayley says her too. She says she can't wait to get rid of Sasha and get this over with. She says she achieved all her success by herself. Sasha gets mad. Bayley says that's the look of envy Sasha has been giving Bayley all this time. Sasha is just upset Bayley beat her to the punch.

Sasha says if she wanted to turn on Bayley, she would have done it years ago. Friends don't turn their backs on each other. Sasha really lays in the guilt trip on Bayley about how she's stood by her as a friend. Bayley rolls her eyes. Sasha says Bayley is the longest-reigning Smackdown champ of all time, but Sasha helped her every single time. Bayley turned her back and Sasha and tried to end her career. At Hell in a Cell, Sasha is gonna end, Bayley. And when she walks out with Bayley's Smackdown Women's Championship, it will just be the icing on the cake.

Bayley refuses to sign the contract and leaves. Sasha calls her a coward. But she can't run when she's locked into Hell in a Cell. And she'll be signing that contract one way or the other.

Braun Strowman is seen jazzercising backstage. Smackdown takes a commercial break.

After the break, Ken Jeong wishes WWE success on a season premiere. Then Joel McHale does. It's a god damn Community reunion on Smackdown tonight. George Kittle, and a cardboard cutout of Steve Austin, also sends in a video praising Seth Rollins.

Braun Strowman comes to the ring. Then Roman Reigns comes to the ring with Paul Heyman. Is it already time for the main event? It's only 9:35 at this point. Are Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman really going to have a 25-minute match? I find that extremely unlikely.

Michael Cole says it's a big fight feel in the Thunderdome. Sorry, Cole, but no matter how much fake crowd noise you pump in here, a match with zero build that we know the outcome of (because Reigns isn't gonna drop the belt to Strowman right before Strowman goes to Raw) does not qualify as "big fight feel." Jey Uso is seen watching on a TV backstage. Smackdown takes a commercial break. Well, that'll kill a few minutes.

The show comes back at 9:41, and then we see a commercial for something called Big Noon Kickoff tomorrow, which will feature Stone Cold Steve Austin as a guest via Facetime? The host, Rob Stone, is on the Thunderdome screen, as is Mark Henry. The match gets started at 9:42 with 18 minutes to go on Smackdown.

Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns – WWE Universal Championship Match

• This big hoss fight spills outside quickly. The usual ringside violence is inflicted. Strowman does his running shoulder tackle to send Reigns over the barrier into the Thunderdome crowd, and Smackdown takes a commercial break at 9:44. Ah, now I get it. Most of the time is gonna be spent on commercials in this match, so these guys can wrestle like a seven-minute match, but it can take up a 20-minute portion of Smackdown. Smart, I guess.
• Smackdown returns at 9:49. Goldberg is seen in the Thunderdome. Strowman tosses Reigns around a little bit. He chokeslams Reigns and tries to pin him, and Reigns does the low blow on the kickout attempt thing he used on Jey Uso. He hits a spear, but Strowman kicks out.
• Reigns sets up for another spear. But Strowman catches him and tries for a Powerslam. Reigns reverses into a guillotine. Strowman drops to his knees. Then he's fully down. Strowman taps out.

Wow! That was decisive. Jey Uso comes out. He watches from the stage as Reigns spears Strowman again. He invites Uso to the ring as Strowman gasps for air. Uso walks slowly to the ring. Really slowly. There's still six minutes left in the show. Reigns has a steel chair. He tells Uso, "this is how we eat! This is how we take care of generations of our family. If I'm not on the top, I can't do that. I don't want to do this to you. I'm giving you another chance. At Hell in the Cell, this is gonna be you. If I can do this to him, imagine what I can do to you.

Reigns hits Strowman with the chair. Refs run out—fake crowd noise boos. Reigns chases off the officials and beats Strowman with the chair some more. Now Uso climbs up on the apron. Reigns drops the chair. He tells Uso, "I love you. I would never hurt you." He says Uso is embarrassing the family, and now he needs to prove himself. It makes no sense for Uso to try to take Roman's spot. Roman still loves him. Roman kicks the chair to Uso and tells him to hit Strowman with it.

Uso considers it. Reigns turns his back. Uso picks up the chair. Who will he hit? He struggles with the decision. No one, it turns out. He tosses the chair down. Reigns goes for a hug. Uso punches him. He grabs the chair.

"You love me?! I love you too! You love me?! I love you too!" he shouts while beating Roman with the chair. Officials pull Uso off. Roman gets up and hits him with a Superman punch. Roman walks away, and Smackdown goes off the air.

Say what you will about 90% of WWE's programming, the Reigns/Uso feud has been great. And as the main event of the show, that forgives a lot of other stuff. Overall, this was a fast-paced episode of WWE Smackdown with a strong ending. If new or lapsed viewers tuned in and saw this, I think they got both a more representative example of what Smackdown is really like compared to the series premiere on Fox, which leaned on stars that no longer wrestle a bit too much. That was the right move. Whether it will make a difference, who knows, WWE needs to make the right move a lot of times in a row to prove they actually mean it before the ratings death will truly turn around.

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