Jey Uso fails again to impose the will of the Universal Champion on the rest of the Roster; Kevin Owens finally being integrated on SmackDown for the first time since the WWE draft on October 9
it could have been anticipated that Kevin Owens would receive a major opportunity to shine on SmackDown this week given the fact that he was a guest commentator on NXT this week – filling in for Wade Barrett for the week and bringing the KO Show to NXT. Roman Reigns saw earlier in the night that Owens did not respect him as the undisputed leader of the locker room, so he tasked his cousin Jey Uso to beat some respect into Kevin (which largely was a futile effort because Kevin Owens is so outspoken).
Owens followed this by calling out the Head of The Table, so it seems likely that KO will be Roman’s next challenger for the Universal title on December 20 at TLC. Kevin Owens has been basically in WWE purgatory for the last eight months since ‘Mania and the rivalry with Seth Rollins, so it has to be encouraging for him to finally be incorporated into a storyline with significant meaning for the future.
Daniel Bryan to feud with Jey Uso in the immediate future before ultimately beginning a Universal championship rivalry with Roman Reigns right around Royal Rumble time in January; Daniel Bryan undertaking a backstage role in the production of WWE programming and executing the job extremely well
Jey Uso attacked multiple superstars this week, so his direction is somewhat difficult to figure out for someone who does not follow WWE programming on a regular basis. Uce attacked Otis, Daniel Bryan, and also participated in a match with Kevin Owens. He was basically fighting his cousin’s battle for him with KO, and Mr. McMahon most likely wanted to give Otis a spotlight for another week because Vince is a massive fan of Otis and what he could potentially bring to the table for the next decade in the company (he is not even 30 years old yet). In all seriousness, however, WWE would like to explore in more depth the rivalry between Jey Uso and Daniel Bryan.
As Daniel Bryan has previously stated, this run for him through WrestleMania 37 will be his final run as a full-time superstar. Bryan is transitioning into a backstage role on the WWE creative team. He is currently working on SmackDown as both an in-ring competitor as well as sitting in on headsets with Mr. McMahon and throwing himself into learning the intricacies of how WWE goes about producing its television programs. Bryan is also waiting in the Gorilla position consistently to give superstars advice on their performances.
Daniel Bryan’s fingerprints are essentially all over the production of SmackDown in the past few weeks – he also participated in a match with Sami Zayn (a ‘Mania rematch which undoubtedly would have been an unbelievable match if it were given the adequate amount of time). The company is in the process of portraying Sami in light of a delusional character.
Bryan got an opportunity to earn an IC championship match, but it looks like that will go to Big E to further his singles push by putting the intercontinental title on him for the second time, while Bryan goes after Jey Uso.
Bianca Belair also continued her ascent in the women’s division with a victory over Natalya. The EST of WWE is on pace to become a women’s champion in WWE within about 6 – 12 months. The Street Profits (Bianca is married to Montez Ford) meanwhile could not get it done against Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. They will most likely not win the titles in the near future, but they will serve as great challengers to the titles considering they are both former tag team champions.
King Corbin cuts a phenomenal heel promo, putting down Rey Mysterio while putting over Murphy in the ring and getting his singles run off to a solid start with a victory over a sizable name just one week after the conclusion of the long-term rivalry between Murphy and Seth Rollins. Congratulations to Seth on the birth of he and Becky Lynch’s child which should be coming in a couple of weeks.