Bayley and Sasha Banks are finally starting their Breakup Storyline after it was Postponed Twice due to the Pandemic
Bayley and Sasha Banks have finally started their breakup storyline which was originally planned to start right before WrestleMania 36. That was pushed back due to the pandemic hitting, so Mr. McMahon and everyone else involved in WWE’s creative process decided to do it for SummerSlam (the second biggest show of the year for WWE). Mr. McMahon wanted fans to be president when this storyline came to fruition. When it became apparent that the WWE universe would not be able to be in attendance for SummerSlam, Mr. McMahon again decided to push this back.
Shortly after the second biggest show of the year, WWE made the decision to finally go ahead and set the storyline in motion a couple weeks later (Mr. McMahon most likely thought to himself “we cannot suspend our storylines forever because of this pandemic, so we should just go ahead and do it.” It completely makes sense from a business standpoint why Mr. McMahon would ideally want to have the WWE universe present to witness this storyline unfold (because this would mean a significant amount more revenue for the company), however it probably would not make as much sense within the framework of the story if WWE were to push it back several more months. It’s therefore a smart decision to start this breakup scenario now between Bayley and Sasha Banks while it is still relevant to viewers.
The Big Dog’s Familiar (and familial) Next Challenger for his Universal Championship
The next challenger for Roman Reigns was determined on this episode. It originally would have made the most sense for Big E to win the fatal four-way match for a few reasons. First, he is a former NXT Champion, so people in the company have seen that E is capable of leading a brand and being a workhorse. Second (and most importantly), he was one of the two men Mr. McMahon was deciding between to lead WWE into the future along with Roman Reigns in 2014 as the successor to John Cena. Big E has also been a former Intercontinental Champion on the main roster in WWE back in 2013-14.
Sheamus is also portraying a heel right now, so it would not make much sense for WWE to do a heel vs. heel match. Matt Riddle and King Corbin both appeared to be busy with their own subplot, so all that was left was Roman’s own cousin Jey Uso. Jey’s brother Jimmy is currently out nursing an injury he suffered at ‘Mania in April (torn ACL), so it’s a massive positive to see the company still electing to incorporate Jey into a storyline. No one expected it to be quite this big, but it makes perfect sense considering Roman Reigns is Jey’s cousin.
Paul Heyman put it perfectly when he stated that one of the core values WWE is built on is a sense of family. From the perspective it is so poetic for a family member of the Universal Champion Roman Reigns to become the number one contender on the same night. This storyline along with the breakup of Bayley and Sasha Banks will give WWE some very compelling stories to tell with some primary competition coming in the form of the NFL (which has its first Monday Night game on September 14).