For weeks, Kevin Owens has made it clear that WWE’s all-time pre-hero Roman Reigns is not afraid. That lack of fear didn’t pay off for Owens as he has received a series of hits from Reigns. Owens stability was on display again Friday at SmackDown as he kept coming for the champion, no matter what price he paid to do so.
From the beginning of the show to the end, Owens found himself on the receiving end of a penalty from Reigns alongside Jey Uso, just bigger and even put off at almost every turn. However, when the show came to an end, it was Owens who might have laughed last, digging out from under a mountain of tables, ladders and chairs, to tell Reigns that still fighting. In addition, Owens promised Reings that he would win the all-time TLC pay-per-view tournament on Sunday or die trying.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you the results and ambitions of the action. Read on for everything you need to know about SmackDown ‘s TLC home edition.
Kevin Owens ’moral influence comes at a price
Kevin Owens opened the show with an in-ring promo. Owens said he received the message Roman Reigns sent to his family last week, when the universal champion threatened to take the food off the Owens family table. Owens told his family not to watch the game at TLC as he doesn’t want his family to think about it differently after seeing what he does for Reigns in their game. Paul Heyman stopped reminding Owens that Reigns is working in his own time and said he was wrong when he accused Owens of being a masochist. Instead, Heyman said, Owens is a priest who stops at nothing to prove his point and that makes him dangerous. Owens had heard enough and said that if Reigns didn’t come to him, he would go to Reigns.
After a commercial breakup, Owens was back on stage at the door of Reigns’ dressing room where Adam Pearce begged to wait on Sunday. Owens pushed him to one side but when he knocked on the door, Reigns’ music hit the field and the champion made his way to the ring with Heyman in a tow. Reigns said he didn’t want to hurt Owens, but that Owens can’t run around saying Reigns is a bad guy. Reigns gave Owens the opportunity to acknowledge as head of board or end, not at TLC, but tonight. Owens tried to storm the ring, but Jey Uso attacked from the back before Reigns entered the strike, with the two leaving Owens down and out. Backstage, Reigns asked Jey to “finish it off” for good. Jey attacked Owens with a chair on his way to the trainer’s room and then put it through a table in the trainer’s room later.
Reigns went out one last time to close the show, stepping into the ring to say he didn’t understand why, if you get the chance to be in a competition match with him, you would blowing the opportunity. Reigns said this is an opportunity to take yourself to the next level, just to beat Owens music and Owens to make his way to the ring. Owens took out Uso with a chair before attacking Reigns. Before Owens Reigns could hit a stunner, Uso returned to the ring to hit a superkick. Follow a spear with a spear and Uso brought boards into the ring. First, Uso Owens hit through a board, then Reigns hit Samoan fall through another. Kingdoms would bury Owens under a pile of tables before throwing ladders on top of them and ending with a series of chair paintings. Reigns was to be interviewed behind the stage only to see Owens sitting on a chair in the ring and close the show by saying that Roman cannot hold down and get the universal title or he would die trying.
While everyone plays their part well in the story including Reigns, Owens, Uso and Heyman, there is a risk of wrestling to cross the line from making your child look sad and resolute and into the realm that makes him look weird. Owens is not always a wise decision to run into situations where he is taller, bigger and more likely to be beaten up. Yes, it ‘s hard and the sadness and that refusal to put it back has annoyed Reigns, but it hasn’t really given Owens any kind of “win”. Level: B.
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- SmackDown Tag Team Contest – Street Profits (c) def. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode to retain the titles. Opponents took control of most of the game until Angelo Dawkins got the hot tag and hit Roode with his twisted neck for two. Ziggler came back with a celebrity backed by another man who was close to falling. The profits hit the Anointment and Montez Ford frog showers, but Ford didn’t cover fast enough. Instead, once Ziggler signed out, Ford put Roode up for the 1-2-3. The heels complained that Ford grabbed his tires, but referee Charles Robinson took him back and threatened to take him off. The action was good here, but it’s hard not to get tired of those rolling finishes and replacements, which are clearly going to come here.
- Riott Squad def. Billie Kay & Tamina through a fall after flatliner missile dropkick. Tamina got a lot of work early, but once she took it off and was removed from the ring apron, the Riott Squad hit a missile dropkick flatliner to hit Kay easily. It was good to finish off a tag team that got Riott Squad to show off, but this wasn’t too much of a game.
- Carmella hosted a “champagne tasting. ” With her sommelier in the ring, Carmella said she would pick out the champagne of the contest. She named herself better than Sasha Banks because the hero is weak-minded and above her holds a title for so long. Carmella said Banks will no longer be able to control her emotions, and she must deal with that he is no longer the boss. Banks attacked Carmella from behind and then went after the sommelier, giving Carmella an opening to break another bottle over the back of the champion. This was well done for all Carmella was considering, but it didn’t advance the story at all.
- Otis def. Shinsuke Nakamura through a fall the Vader bomb. Otis found some offense on Nakamura with a clothesline and shower, but Chad Gable stopped him in the middle of the bra and asked him to make suplexes. Nakamura almost put Otis rolling up, but Otis threw him with a suplex and then hit the Vader Bomb for the 1-2-3 in a short game. Yeah, you read this right. Otis defeated Nakamura. Gable later told Otis that he should have hit the caterpillar and that he should do what he means, not what he says.
- Sami Zayn hosted the Sami Awards, rewarding himself for coming back of the year and game of the year, but read the Big E name for superstar of the year after Big E changed his cards earlier in the show. They were fighting before Big E threw Zayn down the ramp.
- Bayley def. Bianca Belair through pinfall after an eye rake and Rose Plant. Behind the stage before the game, Belair said Bayley is not a role model, but she sees him as a measuring stick. Bayley said Belair must humiliate herself and promised to put the rookie on the map. This was a pretty solid game with good work from both women, as expected, but Bayley took a short cut, racking the eyes to finish and getting a big win.