13 Ups & 0 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown
11. You're A Weird Guy, Erick
Erick Rowan's sitdown interview with Michael Cole was both clumsy and inelegant, but that's fine. That's who Rowan is. He's a different kind of monster: a big, beefy boy who has only recently been empowered by his own strength and (apparent) intelligence, having been stifled as a follower for so long, so there should be growing pains as he comes out of his shell.
This was a solid character-enhancing segment to continue Rowan's recent focus. He claimed that rather than trying to kill Roman Reigns, his was only out to scare him, and suggested Cole lower his tone when he piped up in response. From there, Erick talked about being overlooked, disrespected, and underappreciated, calling himself a leader, not a follower, before claiming himself Daniel Bryan's mental and physical superior. Finally, Rowan said that nobody would ever disrespect him again.
Rowan's weirdo delivery helped put his personality over here, and hey, it's a whole lot better than the last time WWE tried to present him as a singles act.