5 Things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown: Face turn officially canceled, Huge title change to happen at SummerSlam?
SmackDown continued the build to SummerSlam 2021 this week with an action-packed episode. While there were quite a few flaws that will be highlighted in Best & Worst, the overall pace of the show was light and easy to keep up with.
Important storylines got the limelight and SmackDown seems to be following the "less is more" policy. With that said, here's what WWE subtly told us on SmackDown this week.
#5 SmackDown has the funniest contract signing in WWE history?
Just like last week, SmackDown opened with a John Cena promo. He continued to trash Roman Reigns and made some clever and not-so-clever comebacks.
Baron Corbin, who has been one of the highlights of SmackDown lately, interfered and John Cena couldn't even recognize him. It was only when Corbin went up close that he realized it was his SummerSlam 2017 opponent. Not wanting to kick a man while he was down, he gave Corbin whatever little cash he had in his pocket.
Corbin insulted John Cena for giving him so little, calling him a 'low life' before getting an Attitude Adjustment.
While we assumed at first that Roman Reigns vs Finn Balor would happen on SmackDown, WWE announced that they would have a contract signing to make their match official for SummerSlam. When Roman Reigns sat by Finn Balor, he indicated that he had a bit more respect for him than he did for John Cena.
Ultimately, Roman Reigns said he would be happy to lay the beatdown on Finn Balor at SummerSlam and proceeded to sign the contract. When threatening to send Finn Balor back from SmackDown to NXT, The Prince simply responded that he would be glad to return to the black and gold brand as the Universal Champion again.
However, right as he was about to put the pen on the dotted line, Baron Corbin came out and attacked him. John Cena then ran in for the save and signed his name on the contract, all while Roman Reigns looked on bewildered.
Backstage on SmackDown, a furious Paul Heyman demanded to know how it was even legal to book Reigns vs Cena when Finn Balor's name was on the bonded contract. Adam Pearce explained that a signature was good enough for him and the match was made official.
Meanwhile, Finn Balor vs Baron Corbin was announced for next week. Not only has Corbin's face turn seemingly been canceled, but Finn Balor may have to wait another month for a Universal Title shot.