WWE.com and Pat McAfee Show contributor Mark Kaboly breaks down SmackDown and Raw with 10 observations.
RAW
1. A LOSS IS REALLY A WIN: Have you ever seen a competitor benefit so much from losing, not to mention losing in his home city, more than Penta? Penta lost a World Heavyweight Championship showdown against Roman Reigns during last week’s historic Raw in Mexico City in what could prove to be the match of the year. Since Reigns struck Penta down, he’s become stronger than ever. Penta went from an interesting performer with a ton of talent to a force to be reckoned with in WWE in a single night. Kicking off Raw, Penta’s declaration that it’s only the beginning with Reigns, coupled with his impromptu addition to the Triple Threat Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match Qualifier and subsequent win, set the stage for him to eventually become a WWE Champion. If you were skeptical about that, Monday’s crowd reaction and results should’ve changed your mind.
2. JUDGMENT KIND OF DAY: Remember The Judgment Day? Sure, they never went anywhere, but they weren’t necessarily on the top of the card recently after some changes. The faction returned in a big way on Monday, with the opening segment featuring Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonough, the second segment having Roxanne Perez competing in the Women’s Triple Threat Money in the Bank Qualifying Match, McDonough and the full faction in the ring with Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan on the microphone, and the main event with Dom was a strong showing. The Judgment Day are off life support, and Monday illustrated that.
3. NICE SURPRISE: I am all for the impromptu match and even more so when it involves big-time players like Bron Breakker and The Vision. Sure, it was provoked by Je’Von Evans with the slap across Breakker’s face, and he ended up paying the price, but not after getting some good shots in on The Vision and Breakker. Of course, The Vision come out ahead at the end, but Evans’ moment against one of the best performers in the company against crazy odds was a nice twist. It should do nothing to hurt Evans while enhancing The Vision as a bunch of not-so-good people who have a gang mentality. Evans even claimed a disqualification win.
4. DIFFERENT SIDE OF OBA: Correct me if I am inaccurate here, but this week's Raw may have been the first time Oba Femi came to a WWE ring without his dynamic entrance. Whether that was the case or not, Femi’s return and taking a few pounds of flesh in the process from all the members of The Vision illustrated that The Ruler is in a different mind space than he was against Brock Lesnar. The way it was handled after a week of him being missing after getting jumped allows a run against each member of The Vision, likely starting with Austin Theory, Bronson Reed and eventually Breakker, which would then introduce Paul Heyman into this.
5. NICE TO HEAR: The WWE is in a better place when "Dirty" Dom is getting heat, and this week's Raw was a prime example. Dom was in a space not long ago that he couldn’t even pick up a microphone without getting booed out of the arena. That somewhat went away. On Raw, the opening segment where he interrupted Penta might have been the loudest boos of the night.
SMACKDOWN
6. UNCOMPROMISED CODY?: Cody Rhodes’ sit-down with Michael Cole lasted a little more than four minutes, but those four minutes painted a clear picture of where The American Nightmare’s head is right now — in the murky middle. Cody said he hears the outside noise about him being compromised, yet everything he’s accomplished since returning in WWE has been done the right way. He didn’t need to be that slimeball to get ahead, yet here he is getting questioned about where his head is. No matter how passionate Cody came off with Cole about doing things the right way, he came across as a guy who is fed up with it. He also came across as a guy who might be getting some advice from the ultimate manipulator, Paul Heyman, as he casually dropped a “Mr. Heyman” during his talk. Maybe Cody won’t ever be fully manipulated, but his SmackDown interview definitely had a tone of an upcoming crossroads (no pun intended) in the career of Cody Rhodes.
7. WHAT CAME FIRST?: Nothing is done by chance. It’s always thought out, and if it comes across as subtle, then it is even better. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you want. Still, Cody indicated that he might now make a different decision after passing on the chance to punt Orton at Sunday Night’s Main Event, which was eye-opening. Interestingly, Cole also mentioned to Corey Graves that people speak differently when on-camera versus off-camera. When WWE posted off-air footage on its social media accounts, the off-camera footage of Cody telling Cole that he will punt Randy in the skull next time suggests Cody is fed up with the narrative. Narratives don’t make QB1s into jerks. Manipulators do, and Cody isn’t there yet.
8. TRICK HAD TO WIN: The Triple Threat Match to qualify for the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match would have done Randy Orton no good to win. He’s way too far along in his career to be lugging around a briefcase in order to get an opportunity to get his 15th World Championship. With Trick Williams winning, it affords him an opportunity to step out of his comfort zone at a PLE and take part in what will be an amazing Ladder Match. His triple threat with Orton and Ray Fenix illustrated that Trick could work well with multiple opponents in the ring. It was one of the better matches on the card.
9. SLAMMIN’ SAMI: Every week, it seems like Sami Zayn and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis have some kind of beef, whether it is something one said or a match that was or wasn’t made. Zayn took it to a different level on Friday when he put his hands on Aldis. The GM didn’t appreciate that. It wasn’t the first time these two had beefs, but it was the most notable. Aldis making a crack that “your last WWE title reign lasted nine days. Let’s see if we can get past seven” was very un-GM-like. Slow burn, right? Speaking of Zayn, what a great job he did on SmackDown. You just have to dislike him!
10. STICKING WITH HAKU: It was nice to see the legendary Haku finally get involved in a match to help his sons in their match against Bakusai. Sure, it hammered home the bad guy mentality of The MFTs, but that was secondary to me. Haku used his Tongan Walking Stick like he just graduated from the "Classy" Freddie Blassie school of bad guy managers. There is no doubt that Haku needs to continue to get involved to push his boys to greater success.
