Roman Reigns had an excellent first full-length match as Universal Champion. It perfectly sowed the seeds for the storyline set to manifest in the coming months – where The Tribal Chief takes the role of a mob boss as the sole breadwinner of his family who takes immense pride in that, so much that it becomes a significant problem for his entire family. This story could serve as a perfect excuse to get the storied Anoa’i family involved in a WWE storyline again (all of them).
The Big Dog also wrestled shirtless for the first time in years, and his physique looks better than ever as Corey Graves alluded. The next logical step would be to introduce new entrance music for Roman as part of the rebranding process – because everything else about Roman’s heel presentation is new. The affiliation with Paul Heyman is serving to legitimize his character. It only makes sense at this point to go all the way with the rebranding process by introducing a completely new presentation of Reigns.
Jey Uso has absolutely proven his merit in WWE and reminded the powers backstage of his value to the company. He has, without a doubt, earned the right to stay at, or near, the top of the card for the foreseeable future. This is not a case of nepotism or SmackDown having a problem in the depth department – this is a case of Jey, and most likely his brother Jimmy as well, earning their position.
I legitimately had a strong inclination that Randy Orton would become WWE Champion for the 14th time at Clash of Champions. It has been over three years (believe it or not) since Orton has held a world title in WWE. Four men who have been punted by Randy in the last couple months all showed up to give him retribution, helping Drew McIntyre manifest a massive second victory over Orton – one of the biggest stars ever in WWE – in two months, cementing his legacy as one of the primary focal points in WWE for the foreseeable future.
It is massive for McIntyre to retain his WWE Title two months in a row against one of the biggest stars in WWE history – one of those victories coming at the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year, SummerSlam. Shawn Michaels did tell Randy about a month ago that Sweet Chin Music might be coming his way in the near future. The man who interfered in the match who made the most sense within the framework of the story was Big Show. Not only was he punted by Orton recently, but he also got McIntyre’s reign as WWE Champion off to a solid start by putting McIntyre over literally immediately after WrestleMania 36 went off the air.
It was a huge steppingstone for McIntyre to get a victory over a legitimate threat in WWE over the past 20 years – almost, and it was equally as unselfish of the giant to ensure the success of McIntyre – thus preserving the future of the business.
There is still a significant possibility that the trilogy of matches between Orton and McIntyre will be completed at Hell in a Cell on October 25. There is a strong chance that Randy Orton will win the WWE Championship – since he has had arguably the greatest calendar year of his career, both on the microphone and in the ring. From a storytelling perspective, Randy is simply on a different level – the storyline in the first half of the year with Edge was most notable.
Sami Zayn employed some major creativity in the Intercontinental Championship match. This storyline was a reincarnation of the storyline between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels back in the early 90s, Michaels, the original Intercontinental Champion, took a hiatus from WWE and Razor was crowned champion. When Michaels returned, a ladder match was booked for WrestleMania 10 in which Razor won. In the 2020 version of this storyline, Jeff Hardy was in the role of Razor – the rightful champion, Zayn was in the role of Michaels – the man who still technically had a claim to the title, while AJ Styles served as the actual wheel on the bike for now.
The WWE booking team flexed their creative muscles in this match, having Jeff Hardy take the WWE universe back to WrestleMania 33 as well as so many other nights when he has jumped off a ladder. Zayn got the victory in what was one of the most creative ways to win a match – by handcuffing both his opponents to ladders, including one of them by his own ear.
WWE is in the process of creating a narrative where the company is badly in need of the rivalry between Bayley and Sasha Banks to begin (even though the WWE knows that is not the case as the Women’s Division in WWE is arguably even deeper than the men’s division). These two women have received so much prominence from the company and have been the primary story in the women’s division for about three months now – maybe even longer.
Bayley was originally scheduled to have a match with Nikki Cross – her challenger from July, but when Nikki was deemed unable to compete, Bayley’s challenger from SummerSlam was rehashed – Asuka (who had already wrestled a match earlier in the night).
The Street Profits have been extremely reliable and dependable since being promoted to the main roster about a year ago. They have been Raw Tag Team Champions most of this time, and in the process have become the longest-reigning Champions since the inception of those titles in 2016. Angel Garza and Andrade should either win the titles very soon or just completely disband as a team after losing Zelina Vega as their manager.
It was not necessarily a great night for her either, losing a Raw Women’s Championship match to Asuka. Zelina will likely get another title match since she attacked the champion after the match. Vega could absolutely be champion one day – just not yet. She will develop her in-ring style, and her character, more importantly, to resonate in a bigger way with the WWE universe.
It is finally feasible for WWE to begin positioning Bobby Lashley as a prominent and emphatic force in WWE now that he has the backing of The Hurt Business. This could ultimately set up for the orchestration of a match between Lashley and Brock Lesnar at some point in 2021. WWE management is reportedly pushing for this to happen, which I am all for. From the perspective of a fan, it’s pretty unbelievable that this has not transpired yet considering Lashley has been back in the company for over two years.
However, the two men have resided in different stratospheres when it comes to their level of stardom. Lesnar has been a box office attraction since the day he walked into the company. Lashley, on the other hand, has struggled to gain that same level of momentum. WWE definitely wants this match to take place, but the company wants to do it while both stars are on the same playing field. The company would like to position Lashley as a superstar on the same level as Brock. Right now he is absolutely on the right track – being a dominant United States Champion and the CEO of The Hurt Business. His character direction is on an upward trajectory!