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Roman Reigns is out for vengeance after the 2025 Royal Rumble match. (WWE/WWE via Getty Images)
WWE via Getty Images
WWE's tour around Europe continued to bring the heat on Friday in Bologna, Italy, with another eventful "WWE SmackDown."
A world title hasn't been necessary to gain fans' interest in arguably the second-biggest storyline in wrestling right now, which pits Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and CM Punk at each other's throats. The trio went head-to-head-to-head for the first time on the microphone in Italy, building toward next month's colossal WrestleMania 41 event. Meanwhile, legends like Randy Orton reminded us of their brilliance, while new champions The Street Profits kicked off their reign after last week's title capture.
Haters of the Night
You know you're working with a special storyline when it genuinely feels like all involved hate each other. That's the point we've gotten to with Reign, Punk and Rollins, and they're all justified with plenty of history to support it. This was always the big triple-threat match to make for WrestleMania 41, and I'm so very happy to see Triple H took my wise words of wisdom back in December — even if there won't be a title on the line.
"WWE SmackDown" ended with Triple H's new favorite thing, though. That was, of course, a big, bustling brawl. It all stemmed from Reigns proclaiming Punk screwed him at the Royal Rumble, which led him to screw Punk in his Rollins steel cage rematch last week. Although that gave Rollins the win in the match, he was pissed it prevented him from "finishing off the job" against Punk to prevent him from having his WrestleMania moment.
All men were concise and to the point when they hopped on the microphone. This was always guaranteed to end with a collision in some facet. It was just a matter of how.
Punk brilliantly brought up the fact that neither has beaten him without the help of the other, dating back to the days of The Shield. The one thing that stood out to me the most was Paul Heyman. His involvement is a key tie between Punk and Reigns, and his displeasure with Punk's arrival was fantastic. There's obviously something going on between them, as seen by Heyman consoling Punk after the cage match. Then Punk teased Heyman setting up Reigns on "WWE SmackDown" right before he attacked the former WWE Undisputed Champion.
There's a plot hole with Reigns just foolishly ignoring all these Heyman signs of potential dissension. What's sillier is this isn't the first time. Remember Reigns' Brock Lesnar feuds? You would think the guy should immediately confront Heyman after something like what he saw after the cage match. Instead, it's just ignored until Punk can manipulate it himself in-ring. It makes Reigns look very stupid. At the same time, that's just a character trait, and it goes back to him getting betrayed by Rollins to end The Shield. There's your depth, folks.
The impending triple-threat match received its official tease throughout the brawl when each pointed to the WrestleMania sign. Reigns vs. Rollins vs. Punk is pretty easily my most anticipated WrestleMania 41 match.
Voice(s) of the Night
Randy Orton feels like the biggest deal in WWE when overseas. His reception from these European crowds has been completely absurd. Bologna, Italy, let "The Viper" hear it right off the jump for "WWE SmackDown," and it was terrific.
Orton's presence drew out his latest rival, Kevin Owens, ultimately inching them closer to a WrestleMania 41 match, which was made official later in the show. It wasn't without Owens attempting to mend fences, however. I didn't see his apology and attempt to reunite coming during this Road to WrestleMania, but it was a great wrinkle to show Owens' cowardice. Orton didn't buy it, delivering barbs at an all-time level. Because of that, Orton is also our...
Uncrowned Gem of the Night
The future WWE Hall of Famer is money. Despite the limited changes in Orton's character over the years, he's had such unique full-circle developments and revisits that have made him consistently intriguing. He's one of a kind, and we'll miss him when he's gone. All of this makes me want to see Orton as the final opponent for John Cena when the latter's retirement match comes around in 2025.
Booking of the Night
The continuation of Braun Strowman and Jacob Fatu's feud would never end properly on a random "WWE SmackDown." If anything, their match seemed like it would end with Fatu winning with The Bloodline's aid to earn Fatu a shot at LA Knight's U.S. title. Instead, The Bloodline cost Fatu his title shot by interfering to give Strowman the DQ win.
WWE nailed this execution and story progression. The waters felt murky for LA Knight at WrestleMania 41, and there are still some question marks since the Strowman match will happen next Friday night. The pairing is fresh and intriguing though, so I'm here for it. On the other hand, Fatu was rightfully pissed that Tama Tanga and Solo Sikoa essentially didn't even care about his contender match's result by attacking Strowman how they did. He told them to mind their own business backstage afterward.
Fatu vs. Sikoa at WrestleMania is the move. Have Fatu win, earning his way back to the U.S. title for a proper blow-off with Strowman, who will be the champion by that point. Cinema.
Burial of the Night
The Shinsuke Nakamura burial that was expected last week was prolonged until the Bologna visit. Nakamura took the pin off a Damian Priest South of Heaven in their tag team match alongside Drew McIntyre and Jimmy Uso. This was entirely to extend McIntyre and Priest's feud while giving Nakamura and Uso something to do. McIntyre and Priest will surely put on a solid match at WrestleMania, but this all wreaks of a filler "keep busy" feud.
In the case of Nakamura, this man's WWE run ever since the AJ Styles feud has been so unbelievably sad and wasted.
I will say, McIntyre hilariously labeled Priest an "emo vulture" on his way out of the building.
Predictability of the Night
OK. How do I put this? The booking for Jade Cargill's first match back against Liv Morgan made sense. But it's so annoying, man. It was a double distraction to get Morgan the win — first, from Naomi, and then Raquel Rodriguez, who is always ringside with her tag-team champion partner. But that's just The Judgment Day's formula to victory despite both Morgan and Roriguez being well capable of winning clean.
The match was good, but both needed to stay protected because of their statuses, and Cargill and Naomi are progressing toward a WrestleMania match. The solution in these cases is always not to make a match like Cargill vs. Morgan. Ultimately, it's just conflicting because of how annoying it is to see the repetition of the typical Morgan or Rodriguez match, but it all played out as it should have.
IT HAPPENED
1. Zelina Vega lost a solid match to Piper Niven. The only reason this falls into our limbo category is because I'm confused about this booking choice. Vega appeared to be getting clearly pushed toward a U.S. title shot against the champion Chelsea Green — but she lost. Again, the match was good. However, the result just kind of means "it happened."
2. The Street Profits scored their first win since becoming the new WWE Tag Team Champions by taking out Los Garza in the never-ending cycle of turmoil on "WWE SmackDown." The match was good, and the champs looked like a million bucks, as always. We're just circling the waters in this division regardless of its depth. Something needs to freshen it up or give it more intrigue because it simply isn't there. The Profits will defend against Pretty Deadly next week.
DOWN & OUT
1. Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair did your classic Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier-esque split-screen interview. It was rough, man. I don't at all think these work in professional wrestling. Especially when a feud has no proper story built between the two. Flair discredited Stratton's title win because it was a cash-in, which was silly. After all, she's defended it cleanly since. All around, it was a tough watch.
These European shows will almost have to try not to deliver. I give this show a Crown score of: 8/10
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