The Roman Reigns storyline has been built over the past month so that the final reveal is huge (and will probably take place on the first SD Live on Fox on October 4th right before the Hell in a Cell Pay-Per-View). It would feel incomplete if Rowan turned out to be the man responsible for the attacks on Roman Reigns. Nonetheless, this will still undoubtedly be the biggest match/opportunity of Rowan’s career. He’d better make the most of it because he will probably never get an opportunity like this again if it doesn’t go well.
I don’t know if I’ve ever admitted this before, but I was utterly confused by Bayley’s wishy-washy promo. She is teetering on the edge of babyface territory and not quite willing to take the final step into heel territory. As a result, Charlotte Flair along with the rest of the WWE universe doesn’t know how to react. Sasha Banks has quite a bit to teach Bayley on the art of being a heel, because she is so good at it.
The developments in the King of the Ring tournament turned out to be rather shocking, but I have to admit that it has been booked brilliantly. First of all, changing Elias’ music was a great idea because it is already commanding the audience to take his character more seriously. He has brought a much more aggressive demeanor in recent weeks and this will hopefully serve to create a niche for him as a heel. It also helps him that he is quite a bit bigger than many superstars on the roster because the wrestling industry has trended in recent years towards fans demanding men and women who are more athletic and agile then they were say a decade ago. The future looks like it could be potentially brighter than it has been for the last couple of years for Elias.
Chad Gable got the most surprising victory this week. He also received a massive pop from the crowd, and this very well may do some good in terms of his booking in the future. One thing that can be said for certain is that it’s a pretty safe bet that the KOTR final match at Clash of Champions will tear the house down and it is very likely to steal the show, because you can’t go wrong if you have Baron Corbin, Samoa Joe, Ricochet, Elias, and Chad Gable to choose from.
Respect has to be given to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross for working two matches this week on both Raw and SD Live. The team of Fire and Desire will likely be next in line for an opportunity at the Women’s Tag Team Championships at Clash of Champions because they pinned the champions. There is still not a significant amount of direction for these titles.
Slide Note: I still have not given up hope for Kevin Owens to receive a major push leading up to ‘Mania, creative just doesn’t have anything for him right now immediately following SummerSlam.