7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (March 12)

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Bryan Playing To Roman’s Ego

Daniel Bryan Roman Reigns
WWE.com

Bryan got cerebral before that knee strike.

Contract signing segments typically aren't worth your time, but this one was. Reigns looked down on the thought of Dan challenging him at Fastlane and said he wouldn't sign the contract. That's when Bryan noted that he'd made Jey Uso quit last week inside the cage, which is something Roman struggled to do late-last year.

Ooft! The gloves were off after that. Roman got suckered in by Bryan's manipulation and put pen-to-paper on the deal for 21 March. If you recall, Reigns only got Jey to fall in line and say "I Quit" at HIAC to save his brother Jimmy from further punishment. This was top sh*thousery from Daniel, and Roman's change of expression was even better.

He was believably irked by what the babyface had to say, and got goaded into signing the contract after all. Mark this down as another worthy feud for Reigns; he's worked promo magic with Jey Uso, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Edge and now Daniel Bryan since he retuned last summer.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling, check out 19 Things You Probably Missed From WWE Raw (March 8) and 10 Strangest Places Wrestling Attires Ended Up!

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Contributor

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.