If you're looking for the quick, newsworthy bit of this week's show, I'll spoil you no further: the WWE Universal Championship is blue now. Look at it. Look at this glorious piece of work. Thanks, Bray Wyatt!
If you're looking for a longer breakdown of the other cool thing that happened this week, here you go: Bray Wyatt will battle Daniel Bryan for the newly-minted Blue-niversal Championship at Bragging Rights... er, Survivor Series, that's what I meant to say. And they did a great job setting things up from last week's blink-and-you'll-miss-it Fiend attack. They added more meat to the feud with the help of MizTV, a box of toys, and a lot of intense screaming.
For starters, D-Bry's mini-storyline with Sami Zayn's Group of Talents has now been resolved. He won't join! I mean, it's a loss for Zayn, but at least he still got Cesaro off-cam and his team of indie darlings still has enough legs to stand on. If anything, this rejection could lead to a mini-feud between Bryan and Shinsuke Nakamura, while Fiendy over here waits for the right opportunity to drag Bryan under the ring. No complaints there.
And now, we head to MizTV, the only highlight of this week's episode, in my humble and meaningless opinion. Don't get me wrong, the invasion of NXT's women's division was dope, but we've seen that before and NXT even lost the match to Nikki Cross (urgh). Not a great look for Team Ripley. This week's MizTV was great because The Miz and Daniel Bryan are once again in a ring together. You just know something explosive was going to happen.
Bryan then revealed that he's not going back to the Yes! Daniel Bryan and he's also not going back to being the New! Daniel Bryan. Instead, we're getting the unhinged Daniel Bryan, who thinks he can out-crazy the already crazy Bray Wyatt because, well, he's also insane in the membrane (that one's for you, Mauro). Also, I just enjoy seeing Bryan put Miz in his place. You know, the way Miz put Bryan in his place three years ago in that infamous Talking Smack segment?
And just like clockwork, Bray Wyatt appeared and tried to taunt Bryan with his old catchphrase. I just love how well-written their exchange was. From Wyatt manipulating Bryan to chant with him, to Bryan not falling for it even though wrestling logic dictates he should've chanted with the people right there and then, to capping it off with Wyatt maniacally doing the Yes! chants for him. I know I have the habit of branding promos I enjoyed aa the best one ever, but this one's among the best promos of the year, no doubt about it.
D-Bry walking out conflicted and somewhat regretful of what he just put himself into was the icing on top of this lovely and devilish cake. Despite his tough talk about being mentally unstable, I'm pretty sure he's still aware he done goofed. I can't wait to see how this rivalry will unfold in the coming weeks. Let's just hope they don't have the match under those stupid red lights that make my eyes hurt. A normally lit match will do, thank you very much.
Also, did I mention the Universal Championship is blue now? Yeah, it looks like a proper title now. I love it!
SMACKDOWN RUNDOWN: Other than the stellar main event, the entire show felt like a chore to watch. It feels like watching a bunch of filler before we get to the good stuff. The women of NXT and the Undisputed ERA dropping by wasn't that bad, and we did get a good rematch between New Day and the Revival. It's just really hard to care about this brand warfare when there's nothing at stake. Can we just have the old Shane McMahon back to lead Team SmackDown? It was fun when he was around.
Show Grade: C+
RunDown CutDown
- I love how Io Shirai has yet to invade RAW or SmackDown despite the fact that even Shayna Baszler joined forces with Rhea Ripley to do a sneak attack this week. They're really saving her for one huge moment and I can't wait to see it happen.
- Also, Mia Yim competing days after her brutal ladder match back at Full Sail was ballsy AF.
- I swear if they're not going to do a twist where the person who's wearing the bulldog mascot is actually a competent wrestler waiting to whip King Corbin's ass, I'm gonna lose it.
Photos from WWE.com
*****
Ricky Publico (@NotDMagician) is Smark Henry's resident SmackDown reviewer... for better or worse. A known lover of wrestling tournaments, he's a sucker for well-executed promos and fast-paced matches. While he enjoys nitpicking shows, he now prefers enjoying wrestling for what it is instead of stressing himself over things he can't control. He's also deciding whether to buy another iPhone or not.
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