Best & Worst of SmackDown before Royal Rumble: Possible spoiler for Reigns-Rollins match, Another top champion to lose title very soon?
It was the go-home edition of SmackDown before the 2022 Royal Rumble. Only a day before one of the biggest shows of the year, WWE put out a good episode featuring a limited number of stars.
There were still more positives than negatives this week, although it wasn't above criticism. It wasn't the weakest go-home show either. Let's begin with the ups and downs of SmackDown this week:
#3. Best: Seth Rollins getting into Roman Reigns' head on SmackDown
Is @WWERollins inside @WWERomanReigns' head?
#SmackDown #RoyalRumble #UniversalTitle https://t.co/34T3GIMMWw
Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns had a great interaction on SmackDown this week. It wasn't surprising that from the get-go, Rollins was doing everything his power to try and get into Reigns' head.
When he brought up the poor record that Roman Reigns has against him in world title matches, The Tribal Chief simply said that it was water under the bridge. What wasn't water under the bridge, however, was the fact that Seth Rollins hit him with a steel chair over seven-and-a-half years ago.
It was a fresh wound for Reigns, despite all those Shield reunions in between. The facial reactions of the Universal Champion told the whole story. He said that it wasn't something he could forgive Rollins for doing, and he referred to it as something he did to "us" and not just himself.
In this case, the "us" referred to him and Dean Ambrose, now known as Jon Moxley in AEW.
"I'll never forgive you for what you did to us."
#SmackDown @WWERomanReigns @WWERollins https://t.co/9jgA6AbYjC
It's a good example of why history in a feud matters, and this is a match between the two biggest full-time superstars of this generation.
At one point, Roman Reigns even tried to get the better of him with a superman punch, but Seth Rollins ducked while having his back turned and escaped to stand tall. We could have just witnessed the final episode of SmackDown where Reigns is the Universal Champion.
Rollins could potentially be a favorite to dethrone him and capture the Universal Championship. Virtually every title defense in the last 517 days has been met with the same reaction - exciting, but with the full awareness that The Tribal Chief would retain.
The feud on SmackDown presented The Architect as Roman Reigns' biggest legitimate threat, and he could be the one to end the latter's record-breaking world title reign.