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After John Cena confronted Roman Reigns about ending the Money in the Bank payout, it seemed like a Cena vs. Reigns showdown at SummerSlam was inevitable. Reigns threw a wrench in the works during the Friday night edition of SmackDown, dismissing the WWE icon challenge before a new challenger appeared.
Finn Balor made his way to the ring after Reigns refused to fight Cena at SummerSlam. Balor had played his first game since returning to SmackDown earlier that night and he quickly issued his own challenge to the Universal Champion. After consulting with Paul Heyman, Reigns accepted the challenge, leaving some uncertainty as to who would be on the other side of the ring at the biggest event of the summer.
CBS Sports was with you all night long with recaps and highlights of all the action from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland and the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami.
Roman Reigns rejects John Cena’s challenge
WWE TV’s second consecutive episode kicked off with John Cena heading for the ring. Cena toppled Roman Reigns again, claiming he had to come back to defeat the champion and that the match at SummerSlam was a call to fans to determine which team they were on. Cena called for Reigns to come into the ring but instead brought Paul Heyman out. Heyman gave Cena his word that he would receive an answer to his challenge when, and only when, Reigns chose to come into the ring and do so.
After Jimmy Uso defeated Dominik Mysterio in the show’s final match (see below), Reigns went to the ring to take on Cena’s challenge. After ranting at Cena, Reigns turned down the offer of a match, stating “We won’t see you in the SummerSlam main event.” This brought Finn Balor into the ring, with Balor saying that if Reigns wasn’t interested in Cena’s challenge, maybe Reigns would be interested in his. Reigns ended the series with a simple “Challenge Accepted”.
It wasn’t entirely clear if Balor’s challenge was for SummerSlam or just for some point before. It would be weird to have Cena excited against Reigns just to make him go away with a simple “no thanks” from the champion, but Balor getting a crack at SummerSlam would be intriguing, too. It could also be a distraction for Reigns since Cena isn’t wrestling before SummerSlam and he can’t keep showing up to cut the same promo every week. Either way, a twist is always fun and it was definitely a twist. Rating: B +
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Finn Balor beat. Sami Zayn via pinfall after hitting a knockout blow. The match was Balor’s first main roster return after attacking Zayn on his return.
- Big E cut an in-ring promo to address his Money in the Bank win only to be interrupted by Apollo Crews, Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler. This brought out Ric Boogs, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro for a brawl that ended with Cesaro giving Crews a blow.
- Angelo Dawkins beat. Chad Gable via pinfall after a pop-up spinebuster. It was the first game of the Rolling Loud festival.
- Smackdown Women’s Championship – Bianca Belair (c) a def. Carmella via pinfall after a kiss of death. Another Rolling Loud match, offering great visuals before a post-match fireworks display for the champion.
- Baron Corbin apologized to Kevin Owens for his past behavior, leading Owens to give Corbin money as Corbin’s bad luck continued. Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox accidentally fired their tank’s rocket into Corbin’s groin, causing him to fall to the ground before Roode and Ziggler stole the money.
- Edge and Seth Rollins got into a fight after Edge addressed Rollins’ interference in the All-Around Title game at Money in the Bank. Edge ended the fight with an Edgecution and searched for a spear before Rollins stepped out of the ring to escape.
- Toni Storm defeated Zelina Vega via pinfall after hitting a Storm One. The match was Storm’s first game on SmackDown.
- Jimmy Uso beat. Dominik Mysterio via pinfall with a roll-up. Jimmy got help on the pin from Jey Uso on the outside, Jey pushing on Jimmy’s back to secure the pin.
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