WWE Week in Review: New champs everywhere, JeriKO is history

WWE SmackDown Live

New WWE Champion Bray Wyatt kicks off the show and delivers yet another great promo while actually laughing at the “you deserve it” chants. It’s gotta be hard being “The New Face of Fear” and have that happen. But he certainly does. I’ve long been a fan of Wyatt’s, and it’s unfortunate that this title reign may not last that long. He was great on Tuesday night, saying he truly now has the whole world in his hands, which naturally brings out John Cena. Remember when Bray had all the kids singing that song during their program a couple of years ago? I went back and watched that this week and forgot how special that really was. Cena brings up the chants and says Bray has brainwashed the crowd (a little heelish there), but he has to earn it and the 16-time champ wants his rematch tonight. They’re joined by AJ Styles, who is also owed a rematch and Daniel Bryan makes the match for the main event. Perfect booking as it knocks out both rematch clauses at once. This is already better than the pay-per-view.

American Alpha takes on The Ascension in the first match of the night, and while the match isn’t terrible, it isn’t that great either. I think the champs could have benefited from chasing the titles instead of winning them so quickly after their debut but here we are. They pick up the win and The Usos tell the champs they’re coming for them. Okay.

James Ellsworth and Carmella are backstage talking about dinner, but Dean Ambrose, who’s already fuming and looking for Baron Corbin, tells his former pal that Carmella is using him. Ambrose wants to beat him up and Bryan books the match, which doesn’t even get started as Corbin attacks Ambrose on his way to the ring and puts him through the production table. This program could be really fun to watch.

Bryan tells Nikki Bella that the attacks from her and Natalya have to stop. Nattie shows up and says that Nikki gets everything she wants because she’s Daniel’s sister-in-law and Cena’s girlfriend. A Falls Count Anywhere Match is booked for next week. Will this finally be the end of the rivalry?

Corbin cuts a quick promo on how he’s not WWE Champion because of Ambrose and that he’s on his way to the hospital because of him. Dolph Ziggler is next in the promo line and says that he’s sick of guys like Apollo Crews and Kalisto trying to replace him. He claims he’ll take out the entire new generation of stars if he has to. So I guess we’ll get Dolph against a lot of the younger guys in the next few weeks.

In a rematch from Elimination Chamber, Mickie James evens the score by defeating Becky Lynch. I thought the match from the pay-per-view was a tad bit better, but this was still a decent affair. It’s likely these two will continue their program for a little while.

New women’s champ Naomi is with Renee and she’s sporting a knee brace, saying she didn’t realize how beat up she was until after her match. But it took her eight years to get here and she’s taking the title to her hometown for WrestleMania. Alexa Bliss comes out and is flawless, asking her if she has a “boo boo” and accusing her of faking an injury so she doesn’t have to face her again. She says that ESPN could make a 30 for 30 about her being a failure and is giving her one week to heal up. Very good stuff from Alexa.

The main event is up next, and this match was fantastic. Luke Harper hit ringside beforehand to attack Bray but it didn’t end up hindering him in the match too much. Cena and Styles continue to have the best chemistry in WWE right now, but Wyatt was great as well. This had a very important feel to it as all three guys threw everything they had into it with the main event of WrestleMania essentially being on the line. The end of the match was great as Styles went for the springboard but was cut off by Cena, who in turn ran right into a Sister Abigail. For the second time in three nights, Bray Wyatt pinned John Cena.

Bray is posing with the strap following the match when Randy Orton hits the ring. Instead of just going ahead and splitting them up right away, we’re going to have to wait, and I’m all for that. Orton says that he refuses to face Bray at WrestleMania and pledges his allegiance to the master. Great work here, and I’m really digging that they’re going to tell more of the story in the weeks leading up to Orlando.

Yet another great episode.