Roman Reigns returns on WWE SmackDown
WWE SmackDown advertised the return of Roman Reigns, fallout from Brock Lesnar “disrupting the Bloodline” and Ridge Holland in action against Cesaro. Holland will appear alongside his mentor Sheamus. The main event segment saw Roman Reigns fire Paul Heyman, laying his special counsel out with a Superman Punch after Heyman admitted he was trying to “protect Roman Reigns from Brock Lesnar.”
Last week’s broadcast of SmackDown garnered 2.142 million viewers.
- December 10, 2021—2.142 million
- December 3, 2021—2.030 million
- November 26, 2021—2.149 million
- November 19, 2021—2.064 million
- November 12, 2021—2.104 million
- WWE Raw Venue: Allstate Arena (Chicago, Ill.)
- Tickets Distributed: 9,074
- Available Tickets: 902
WWE NIL Program sends IWC Into a Panic (Pro Wrestling Bits)
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WWE SmackDown Total YouTube Viewership Last Friday: 7,066,593
- Most-Viewed: Brock Lesnar destroys Sami Zayn (2,308,145 views)
- Least-Viewed: King Woods unveils new crown (191,128 views)
- Median Viewership: 532,371 views
WWE SmackDown Results | Friday, December 10, 2021
Toni Storm and Sasha Banks def. Charlotte Flair and Shotzi
For the second week in a row, a major city with a near-sold-out crowd was really behind Toni Storm. WWE might want to consider putting the SmackDown Women’s Championship on Storm, even if she flips it back to Charlotte shortly after.
WWE made it way more difficult than it had to be, but at least Toni Storm is back on the right tract to getting her long-awaited title shot against Charlotte Flair.
The Viking Raiders def. Jinder Mahal and Shanky
The newest WWE announcer trope is commenting on how many carbs somebody has had when they have an impressive physique like Jinder Mahal.
The Viking Raiders appear to have quietly replaced Los Lotharios as WWE’s flavor-of-the-month tag team.
Happy Talk with Baron Corbin and Madcap Moss
WWE needs to end these segments that are intentionally bad, because what happens, is they end up being so bad they become unwatchable.
This segment garnered “CM Punk” chants, and it earned every second of them.
Drew McIntyre was WWE champion to begin 2021, and he ends the year in a comedy feud. The parity in pro wrestling is all-too real.
Ridge Holland def. Cesaro
Ridge Holland mauled Cesaro with a billy club before this match, and given the fact that he lost his last match to Cesaro, he was in great shape to get his 50/50 win.
Cesaro and Sheamus’ feud is being presented like a bitter divorce where Sheamus is showing off his new significant other to Cesaro.
I don’t see how Ridge Holland gets over as an understudy. Eventually he has to turn on Sheamus, but my fear is WWE will pull that trigger too soon and act surprised when people don’t react.
Naomi def. Shayna Baszler
There was little-to-no explanation about Naomi’s relationship with Xia Li, nor was there an appearance by Li.
Naomi defeated Shayna Baszler as WWE continues to bide its time toward an inevitable match against Sonya Deville. Or, at least that’s what better happen.
The New Day def. The Usos
The New Day vs. The Usos felt like a rerun on this show, and they’re going to run it back yet again at WWE Day 1.
Roman Reigns Fires Paul Heyman
Roman Reigns wore a delightfully petty “needle mover” t-shirt.
Roman Reigns received an overwhelming babyface reaction in Chicago. This is the same crowd that would have booed 2015 Roman out of the building, yet they were chanting “Roman” and were all-too happy to acknowledge him.
Reigns kicked off this promo by saying he doesn’t like it when his cousins lose, which made it awkward since that’s exactly what just happened.
Roman Reigns asked Paul Heyman whether he was a personal counsel or an advocate, and these fans already made up their minds by chanting “advocate.”
Despite his hero’s welcome, there was a “Reigns Fears Lesnar” sign just as Paul Heyman said “I’m not protecting Brock Lesnar from you, I’m protecting you from Brock Lesnar.” Heyman was promptly fired after, followed by a Superman Punch for his troubles. I smell a rat, and think this is all part of an elaborate plan for Heyman to screw Lesnar at WrestleMania 38.
Brock Lesnar walked through multiple chair shots and laid out Roman Reigns with two F5’s in a fantastic ending to this show.
