WWE SmackDown 4/30/2021

Pat McAfee is doing an excellent job at the commentary desk for SmackDown alongside Michael Cole. WWE likes to mix up its announcers every few years, and this move is working out well. Some members of the WWE universe will recognize McAfee from NXT from which he had two excellent performances – one against Adam Cole in a singles match at Takeover: 30 in August and the other end of November at Takeover: WarGames.

Roman Reigns retains the Universal championship against Daniel Bryan and introduces a new entrance song which has been in the works for months; The Tribal Chief is becoming one of the most dominant champions in WWE history

That was probably one of the greatest main events in the entire history of SmackDown since the inception of the program back in 1999 (thanks to The Rock) to supplement Monday Night Raw and give more television time to superstars who had earned it. Personally, I have not lived long enough to remember every main event of the program – but this one featured two of the top five WWE superstars of the last decade, as well as being promoted very well (with several WWE superstars putting promos about it.

The Tribal Chief has finally debuted his new music. I read about plans for this right after Roman became Universal champion, and the work finally came together. This new music will grow more and more on the WWE universe as they hear it associated with Roman Reigns. I would have guessed that this new music would have debuted at Mania (the biggest show of the year), but instead WWE opted to introduce it in a WrestleMania rematch of sorts (this was a rematch against one of the two Mania challengers).

One could easily imagine a story in which Edge becomes jealous that Bryan was given a one-on-one title match against Reigns and he didn’t receive one. This could ultimately lead to a Universal title match down the road between Roman and Adam Copeland.

The Head of The Table is clearly being protected by WWE management for one, or multiple, massive matches and he will most likely remain Universal champion until they happen – which is largely dependent on how long this pandemic in the United States lasts. I don’t know exactly who the opponents are that Roman Reigns is being protected for (it could be John Cena, The Rock, or even Brock Lesnar), but he will likely hold onto the title until conditions evolve in such a way so that it can happen.

It was somewhat surprising to see the Head of The Table sandwich the head of Daniel Bryan between two steel chairs. It makes perfect sense from a storyline standpoint because Roman did the same thing to Edge in the main event of WrestleMania 37 just a few weeks ago – not to mention that Edge has become famous for doing that exact thing to his opponents throughout his career (The Rated-R Superstar did this most transiently at Mania 36 to deceive Randy Orton).

But it’s surprising that WWE would allow Roman to do this to Edge due to his history with neck issues. Adam Copeland sustained a broken neck in a classic match on SmackDown with Eddie Guerrero (another one of the program’s all-time great matches) in 2002. There were complications during surgery, and he was fully aware that he was wrestling on borrowed time. Edge finally had to call it quits in 2011 after Mania 27 until he was able to fight his way back nine years later.

Daniel Bryan has a similar story of having to retire early. Edge had to do it at 37 years old and Bryan was forced to do the same at 34. Daniel sustained a serious neck injury in 2013 but continued to power through until WrestleMania 30. Bryan finally had to step away from WWE to prepare his neck about a month later before returning in January 2015. Daniel was unable to win the Royal Rumble match but went on to capture the Intercontinental title at Mania 31 in 2015. Unfortunately, he would again have to relinquish the title shortly thereafter because he was experiencing disorientation among other problems with his head.

As it turned out, Daniel concluded that he needed to step away from WWE once again to allow his head time to heal because he and his wife had already decided on having kids. Doctors advised the same thing for his health. Bryan wanted to ensure his children would have a healthy father, so he made the difficult decision to retire from wrestling in 2016 (in Seattle – near his hometown – on a cold February night). Daniel Bryan returned in 2018 at Mania 34 to revive the YES! Movement and is now being gradually ushered out as a full-time WWE superstar. His loss in a title match to Roman Reigns to be banished from SmackDown is a strong way to go out.

He is not retiring by any means – Daniel will still wrestle probably every couple of months – but his primary objective is to be present for his wife and kids.