5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (May 20)

Ups...

5. Some Nice Opening Build

Roman Reigns The Usos Bloodline
WWE.com

Granted, there was nothing revolutionary about Roman Reigns or Paul Heyman cutting the kind of self-aggrandising promos fans have come to know and expect from the pair. Despite that, their opening speeches did enough to set the scene for the main event unification match.

They also leaned hard on putting The Usos over.

Roman and Paul E could do this sort of stuff in their sleep at this point, but they didn't lose sight of the fact that this was less about them and more about Jimmy and Jey. The closing group hug (and that wicked grin from Reigns) was a nice touch too.

Side note: Randy Orton and Riddle showed fire during their own backstage promo later on. That was a nice contrast to the sense of entitlement permeating The Bloodline's segment. RK-Bro came out looking like obvious babyfaces, as they should be.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.