5 things WWE SmackDown got right this week - Former Universal Champion returns; Superstar turns heel
WWE RAW seems to have its Elimination Chamber match set, and it was up to SmackDown this week to build towards its matches for the show. Unlike the WWE Champion on RAW, Universal Champion Roman Reigns has used his brains more than his fists, and fans wanted to see how he would react to an Elimination Chamber match.
Meanwhile, the Intercontinental Championship picture got more interesting as Apollo Crews was denied another shot at the title by Big E. Seth Rollins made a return to SmackDown this week and decided to carry on with his old gimmick rather than building a new one.
Edge stayed away from this week’s broadcast, but the SmackDown Women’s Champion came out looking for a challenge from Bianca Belair.
Let’s take a look at the five things WWE got right on SmackDown this week.
#5 Roman Reigns and Adam Pearce had another confrontation on WWE SmackDown
WWE SmackDown opened up with Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, and Jey Uso's segment once again. Reigns has been doing a great job at keeping fans interested in SmackDown for several months, and he did just that again this week.
Adam Pearce was waiting in the ring for the Universal Champion, and it looked like a big announcement was on the way.
The Tribal Chief claimed that he would put Edge into retirement once again if he decided to fight him at WrestleMania. Reigns promised that he’d keep the title to himself for as long as he wanted to.
Pearce told The Head of the Table that he had a contract saying that Reigns would defend the Universal Championship inside the Elimination Chamber. Heyman wasn’t too happy about the announcement and told Pearce that Reigns would defend his title at the pay-per-view against the winner of the Chamber match instead, on the same night.
The WWE official said he would think about it, and also revealed that Uso and Owens would be participating in SmackDown's Chamber match at the upcoming pay-per-view.
Reigns got in Pearce’s face but left without doing any damage to him. The segment was good and gave SmackDown a different way to build towards Elimination Chamber as compared to RAW.
It's good that SmackDown's creative staff has decided to have the men compete inside the Elimination Chamber, only for the winner to then face Reigns later in the night. This angle will develop a big story and also showcase Reigns as an even more vicious heel.
At the same time, having Uso as one of the Superstars who could possibly win the Chamber match sounds like a terrific idea.