Tiffany’s WWE SmackDown Takes: The Roman Reigns Mystery Deepens!

Tiffany explores this week’s WWE Smackdown as the Roman Reigns mystery continues and Buddy Murphy gets his chance to shine!

Last week, Roman Reigns discovered that, according to Buddy Murphy, who had to have the truth beat out of him, Erick Rowan was the man behind at least one of the attacks against Reigns over the last few weeks. Rowan seemed to confirm the accusation by living up to the ‘Snitches get Stitches’ mythos and beating the hell out of Murphy during Murphy’s match at SummerSlam. However, there is no proof, other than Murphy’s word, that Rowan, and by extension Daniel Bryan, is guilty of anything. In fact, Murphy challenged REIGNS to a match after the beating he suffered at the hands of Rowan, a challenge Reigns accepted, but will it reveal the truth about his attacker? Plus, what else is going on on SmackDown?

Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon

I still find it extremely bizarre to find myself cheering for Kevin Owens since I’ve seriously disliked him since his NXT debut, but here we are. I also love hearing the huge pop he got from Toronto after his huge victory on Sunday. However, did any of us really think Shane was going to give up so easily? He’s a McMahon after all. Shane did have a point, but since he couldn’t beat Owens with a ref of his own choosing, I’m not sure he’s got a leg to stand on. I love how they’re really playing up the common guy vs rich guy by having Owens say that the $100k Shane’s fining him for taking out Elias was money he needed to support his kids. We never got that with Austin vs McMahon, the real human cost when this stuff happens and I like it. Also, Shane manages to temper his asshole!boss persona by actually being a little reasonable, which makes Owens play into his plots.

It seems like Samoa Joe was wanting to re-establish his heel creds after briefly turning face last week by coming to Roman Reigns’ aid when he was almost mowed down by a car. I was really stoked for this match because these two had a great feud in NXT but only had one match before Owens went to the main roster. Elias helping Joe steal the win just adds to things and has Owens playing into Shane’s machinations, just like Austin did with Vince.

Women’s Division

I gotta say, I wasn’t really into Charlotte Flair vs Ember Moon. I’m guessing that this is meant to be an unofficial #1 Contender’s Match, but I wasn’t feeling it, which is sad because the match was really good. I’m irritated and frustrated that Charlotte won, the Women’s Division is much better without her in the title picture all the time, which is probably what’s going to happen now.

Roman Reigns

So, are we surprised that Bryan and Rowan are denying having any part of the attack on Roman Reigns? No, not really. Am I shocked that Bryan blamed Roman for Murphy accusing Rowan? Not really. However, I do think Bryan was being a little naive in saying Murphy accused them because of Roman’s beating. Murphy smirked before his initial answer, which means he knew what he was doing. I say Buddy Murphy’s behind this to make a name for himself.

Roman Reigns vs Buddy Murphy was excellent, as expected and if Murphy is trying to make a name for himself, going toe to toe with Reigns and nearly beating him is the way to go, but the mystery still isn’t solved. Though I have to say Greenjerks aren’t helping their case by targeting Murphy or by demanding apologies from Reigns. The mystery deepens.

That’s it for Tiffany’s SmackDown Takes! Stay tuned for 205 Live!