A king and a champion are here for Talking Smack!

After a furious Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Apollo Crews is here to celebrate! But will he comment on the assist that helped him?

Kayla Braxton welcomes us back to the show!

Fresh off #WrestleManiaBacklash, we saw new champions emerge, and a rather interesting Friday Night SmackDown. How is Paul Heyman doing? He’s realizing he’s not a morning person. Well she figured as much. He might not even be an afternoon or evening person or any time person. How rude! She apologizes, and just wants a good show. She doesn’t need to apologize to him to have a good show. He’s a living legend! An icon! A national treasure! Today’s great, whether these two get along or not! That’s because of the Special Counsel is right here! He done? Yes.

Kayla wants to start things off with amazing news, because the WWE is returning to event touring in July! It will be July 16th, SmackDown kicking off Money in the Bank weekend! Houston, Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, get ready! Kayla is sure Heyman is pumped for this, because all he does is yap yap yap here in the ThunderDome, so now he can do that in front of live fans. Oh is that all he does? He’s reduced to “yap yap?” Kayla apologizes again but yes, that’s what he does. Does she find it hard to hide her disdain for him? She doesn’t have an issue hiding it. It’s pretty easy not to hide it. To keep going- Well yes, keep on with the yakkity yak.

Kayla brings up the “Parade of Champions” that Bayley interrupted. Heyman says they’re like an old Jewish married couple going on and on, “bitching and moaning.” Please no, Kayla doesn’t want that image. Why? She just doesn’t want to. But Heyman imagines going to West Palm Beach, play mahjong and shuffleboard, then take a nap. Stop! If Heyman wants to talk so much, let’s talk Seth Rollins and Cesaro as it pertains to Roman Reigns. Heyman says that doesn’t pertain to Roman nor himself, because that is Rollins’ problem with Cesaro and Cesaro’s problem with Rollins. Heyman has no dog in this fight.

But Cesaro made a challenge for a rematch to Roman. Heyman wants to answer that question. “Yak. Yak. Yak. Because that’s all I do! It’s amazing that the Chairman of the Board, Vince McMahon, cherishes my involvement in the WWE so much for some shmuck who just sits here and all he does is yak, yak, yak.” Kayla’s turn. Well, we’re going to have another exciting episode, and we have the King of Strong Style and the WWE Intercontinental Champion, and certainly more on Rollins and Cesaro, whether or not Heyman has a “dog in that fight.”

Shinsuke Nakamura joins Talking Smack!

Heyman teases Kayla over “welcome on him now,” like he has a stain or something, but the King of Strong Style is here, still wearing Baron Corbin’s crown. Kayla says it looks much better on Nakamura than Corbin. Probably because Corbin doesn’t have the luscious locks like Nakamura. Nakamura thanks Kayla, and says that since he is the King of Strong Style, he should have a crown. Nakamura says in Japanese that as a king, he of course needs this crown. He also likes the set, the table and the casters. Heyman says he can translate. Nakamura waits on Heyman then, and Heyman says this will trend on Twitter for the week. Okay then…

Kayla notes that Nakamura had back-to-back matches with Corbin, lost the first and had some help on the second with the guitarist, Rick Boogz. But how has it been wearing the crown? Kayla shares Nakamura’s Instagram posts the last week. Did anyone honk at him with the crown? Nakamura responds in Japanese, and says he loves his cat, and his coffee. Kayla just agrees with everything. Heyman, your translation? Heyman wants Kayla to take this seriously. Heyman says Nakamura is a true king and he congratulates him. All the stuff with Corbin, and Heyman throws Yiddish in here and there so the language barrier might be even stronger now.

Does it ever drive Nakamura nuts that we might see King Nakamura VS Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns? Nakamura says it’s always on his mind. Does Heyman promise? Yes! They shake hands, and says Nakamura’s kingdom is in good hands. Heyman will send Nakamura’s regards to Roman Reigns. Nakamura appreciates that. Kayla is happy this went well, and thanks Nakamura for his time. And she doubts Heyman understands what happened at all. Maybe someone can translate before next Friday. Heyman says that was the most articulate and well-spoken guest on this show! If Heyman were to hold a promo class, that Kayla would not want to be part of…

Is she just purposefully lobbing softballs to him? Maybe. But after another break, we’ll have the Intercontinental Champion and his Commander!

Apollo Crews and Azeez join Talking Smack!

Apollo kisses the belt as he places it, and asks dear Kayla how she is doing. Not that it really matters, because all that matters is how he feels! And he’s a bit tired. He hasn’t partied like that for a very long time. Azeez knows what he means. But STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion! Go ahead and ask him things. Kayla can see he’s very excited, how satisfying was it to win that tough Fatal 4 Way? The odds were not with him, but he still walked out champion. Yes, the odds were stacked against him, but he beat everyone’s favorites! And this title is still his! Apollo agrees that was tough, but he’s a warrior built for those moments.

You put Apollo in a situation like that and he finds a way to come out on top! This is his title! Next question. Kayla then asks what everyone wants to know. What everyone wants to know is that Apollo is STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion! But we can’t deflect or deny. Well, side note before this question. SOON, live audiences will get to see THEIR Intercontinental Champion in person! That is the moment we’ve all be waiting for! Okay, now Kayla can talk. Kayla wants to know about the “very obvious distraction,” a certain figure that appeared, in one Aleister Black. Aleister’s return to the ring, as it were, caused a distraction. Was this a plan Apollo had created with Aleister?

Apollo has no idea what she means. He doesn’t know Aleister that well, and this footage, he’s not sure, he has some champagne in his eyes so he isn’t sure what’s happening. Apollo uses his scarf to dab his eyes. Oh, he sees himself smiling and still being champion. Can Heyman talk to this? If this were Kayla, and she means no disrespect, but she wouldn’t have as much satisfaction if she didn’t win this on her own. How can she say she means no disrespect and then disrespect him? She can’t do that. But there are many camera angles. Azeez steps forward and scares Heyman, but Apollo says it is alright. Apollo is the champion, Heyman is a good person who wouldn’t harm Apollo.

Kayla says if they don’t like what she’s saying, take it out on Heyman. No, don’t do that. Heyman wishes to speak to Apollo. It may not seem respectful but this is respectful. Apollo understands. Azeez, it’s alright. Heyman says that this thing with Aleister Black… BS. Apollo likes that! Heyman says that he’s envious, really. He’s been reaching out to Aleister for weeks, he has had ideas for him, and yet Aleister ghosted him. Disappeared, poof! But then suddenly- Kayla scoffs and Heyman tells her that she shouldn’t be so hyper sexualized right now, especially in front of Apollo. Apollo says that’s alright. But Heyman says Aleister must be in his back pocket.

Apollo says he has nothing to admit there. Aleister didn’t talk to Heyman, maybe his phone broke. Apollo can only speak for himself and the title. Heyman does have a point, this was a tough match. Big E hit the Big Ending, Apollo blacked out. When he came to, he was having his hand raised. Okay, Apollo has to go, he has an appointment and has to feed his dogs. Azeez, fire up the jet. Apollo likes Heyman, he’s very good. See you around! Azeez pats Heyman on the shoulder, and follows Apollo out. Kayla thanks Apollo for his time and says that when we return, Heyman will get his chance to do what he does best, and yap yap yap. Oh stop flirting. Heyman wishes that was this was.

Talking Smack returns once more.

Kayla knows there’s a few more things to discuss. For one, a big tag match between The Street Profits and The Usos. This will be the Usos’ first tag match together in over a year, and they’re ready to prove themselves to everyone, including The Tribal Chief, “whom Paul, might seem not pleased with this happening.” Heyman doesn’t have to be pleased, it’s Roman who has to be pleased, because Jey is the Right Hand Man. That’s what Kayla was saying. Well she didn’t word it that way, because she was all “Talking Smack yak yak yak.” Heyman gives concise points and derogatories, which he never gets because Kayla just goes yak yak yak.

But moving on, there’s only a few minutes left. The big tag match, but Kayla was saying that Roman isn’t pleased. Jimmy is pulling Jey’s attention away from the most important thing, which is Roman, and he won’t let the Usos make history together. Jey’s been making history as #MainEventJey, the Right Hand Man! Record ratings because at the helm of the main event, the thing the whole show leads to, it is Jey Uso! Jey is a singles superstar who is reducing himself to the tag team commodity with his brother, who has yet to fall in line! But Jimmy will, sooner rather than later. He has to. He will have to acknowledge Roman Reigns.

There is a lot of family drama going on at this very moment because of Jimmy Uso being so independent and rebellious that he thinks he can stand up to Roman Reigns. What has happened to everyone who has stood up against Roman? Heyman ran it down at the start of SmackDown: no one stays standing. What do we call WrestleMania? The Grandest Stage of Them All, the Showcase of the Immortals. And what happened? One immortal exploited WrestleMania 37 for his own benefit and showcased his own immortality and gave you THE WrestleMania Moment of the DECADE, and it’s only 2021.

“The most declaratively dominant pinfall in the history of WrestleMania main events was one immortal’s showcase when Edge and Daniel Bryan were stacked on top of each other and pinned as if it wasn’t a Triple Threat but a Handicap match by your Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. This is who is the single biggest attraction, in not just SmackDown, not just Raw, not just NXT, but in all of WWE and all of sports entertainment today.” Heyman will paraphrase Kayla in saying he could yak yak yak all day long, but that doesn’t make him wrong. Is anyone really on Roman’s tier today? We saw Bobby Lashley get pinned by Kofi Kingston on Raw!

Well, Heyman watched highlights on his phone because he doesn’t watch Raw. It doesn’t compare to SmackDown. And why is that? Because SmackDown benefits from the graces of the presence of your Tribal Chief, the most preeminent champion in WWE, the true GOAT, Greatest of All Time, the End All Be All and the one who will defend his title against anyone who wants to step up and see what he can do to them at Hell in a Cell, the Reigns-ing, Defending, Undisputed, Uncontroverted, WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion, Roman…! Reigns…! With that, Talking Smack signs off.

My Thoughts:

A very good Talking Smack, Heyman’s banter with Kayla was great as always. Heyman’s promo to end the night was great, too, and really adds weight to Roman VS Jimmy at Hell in a Cell happening. I’m pretty sure Heyman doesn’t really know what Nakamura said in Japanese, not that I had a better idea. A little surprised we didn’t get Boogz here, makes me wonder what they’re planning with how he did Nakamura’s entrance music. But Nakamura VS Roman would be a very good match. Apollo has great charisma, and I like how he was dancing around the issue of Aleister Black showing up at the end of the title match. I’m sure Aleister was there more to attack Big E rather than help Apollo. Not sure who’s next for Apollo, but he’ll make it a good build either way.