Just Keep Fighting, Talking Smack!

The Street Profits had a lot of run-ins with the Alpha Academy last Friday Night SmackDown, and are here to talk about next week’s tag team showdown! Plus, Kevin Owens reacts to the screwjob pulled off by Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez!

Kayla Braxton welcomes us back to the show!

Kayla thanks the crew for the Happy Birthday stuff. Megan Moran even got Kayla flowers. Paul Heyman admits he had to check Kayla’s “wiki,” didn’t know until now it was her birthday, and so he wishes her a happy birthday. Technically, her birthday isn’t until Monday. Oh…! Then excuse him. If it’s not her birthday… It’s her birthday weekend. What? Her birthday weekend. She’s been celebrating since the first. She took a weekend to be born? Happy birthday weekend? What sense does this make? It’s a birth DAY! DAY!! One DAY, not plural! Kayla understands that Heyman is old- Heyman knows God looks down on him and wonders why he hasn’t died yet, but hey.

So Kayla made a weekend, and a week, out of her birthday? Well her friends want her, a nice person, to feel special! Nothing Heyman knows about. Is that okay? No! But thanks for asking him his opinion. Why are people celebrating their own birthdays anyway? It’s more about your parents who did all the work making you, carrying you to term and popping you out! But oh~, you get to have all the fun! Give your mom the presents! Kayla says her parents are proud of her for how she turned out. Imagine the parents that made Heyman. Heyman is a legend, every single Saturday morning! He is the Special Counsel to the Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns.

Of course Kayla’s parents are proud of her. He would be, too. Except now, learning she celebrates a birthday weekend! Well fine, no more talk of birthdays. Let’s talk business. No, he wants to talk SMACK, hence the name of the show. Yes, good one, Paul. But let’s talk about today’s guests! Kevin Owens and The Street Profits- Did she eat these cookies already? She had one. Sure looks that way. Heyman tosses the cookies away! Kayla keeps things on course for this exciting edition of Talking Smack. Hey, careful with the balloon. He’s just looking at it. Heyman mockingly sings Happy Birthday, then POPS the foil balloon! Seriously?

Kevin Owens joins Talking Smack!

The Prizefighter is relentless in his pursuit of the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and he brings up the birthday weekend idea. He has no problem with it, but he doesn’t celebrate his own birthday that much. Heyman likes that Kevin agrees, it isn’t really for them to celebrate. Kevin asks what Heyman celebrates. The acknowledgement of the entire multiverse that Roman Reigns is the Tribal Chief, the End All Be All, the Reigns-ing, Defending, Undisputed, Uncontroverted Universal Heavyweight Champion. Heyman revels in every moment where Roman’s star power grows within the WWE Universe and beyond. Cool.

Kayla asks Kevin about Friday Night SmackDown and the clear frustrations with Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez. He was absolutely robbed, given Azeez attacked him before the match as to get around the ringside ban. It’s hard to watch. Talk about those frustrations. Kevin still kept going. Kevin says there’s no frustration, because Apollo has the title, and if Kevin was mad at Apollo for how he’s doing things, if Kevin was mad at Roman for how he handled things, Kevin would be very hypocritical. Kevin admits he did a lot of that stuff when he was a champion. He had people help him, he did underhanded sh*t to a lot of people.

But it’s fine. Apollo and Roman both had a measure of success even before going this route. But it was never like what they have now, right? Heyman said it himself with the multiverse and the acknowledgement and that crap. Roman’s never reached heights he’s reached now since having Jey Uso do the fighting for him, and Apollo’s never reached the heights he’s reached now since having Azeez fight for him. But guess what? Kevin deserves everything that’s happened to him this last year or so. He admits that. He’ll take these beatings, he’ll take these losses and frustrations. “Because ultimately, the last year, I got to spend it with my wife and my kids almost every day.”

But that is going to end because WWE is going back on the road. And that will be a problem. Right now, this stuff happens, and he at least gets to go home and see his wife and kids. But on the road, Kevin will be on airplanes or in cars, going to shows, is kept away from family, and the only thing that will make him feel better about not being with them is winning and carrying a title, representing the WWE. If this stuff keeps happening then, then we have a problem. Kevin tells Apollo and Azeez that they can relax, because clearly Sami still has a problem with him. Heyman says Sami’s a prick, and Kevin agrees because it takes one to know one.

Heyman agrees back but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong. Sami thinks it’s a conspiracy or something when someone insults him. Heyman, Kevin agreed with you, why you gotta contradict? This is what Kayla deals with every week. Kevin will deal with Sami, and with Apollo, and then like he told Heyman last time, that still stands. Kevin wishes Kayla a happy birthday weekend, and he shakes Heyman’s hand then fist bumps. Heyman says Sam isn’t the only prick between those two.

The Street Profits join Talking Smack!

Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins are ready to face the Alpha Academy, Chad Gable & Otis, next Friday. Heyman shakes their hands, and Kayla brings up how this match came about. The Alphas tried to recruit them to the academy, they wanted no part, things got physical. Where are their minds at with a week to go? The Profits look at each other, and then Ford says, “Focused.” They aren’t going to be overzealous, they’re going to be focused in their exhibition against the Alphas. They’re superstars, this is what they do, they’re focused on the battle, but in a different way than usual. This is a different type of battle for them.

As everyone who watched SmackDown saw, the Profits’ advice to Otis wasn’t taken in the highest regard. Is Ford assuming too much? Let’s get to it, elephant out of the hat. Dawkins says this is more than focused. They’re pissed off and angry. They wanted to help Otis but he wasn’t feeling it, that’s on him. But next week, they’re going to shut down the academy. The Academy tried to roll up to their streets and take their profit. They ain’t having that, it’s a wrap. “Otis & Gable, next week, we gonna bust your heads ’til the white meat shows.”

Kayla wants to ask about what part of the offer upset them. The advice Gable was trying to give them. He had a business proposition, and Heyman knows all about that stuff. So when you approach someone with a proposition, it is about respect. They entertained the idea, but Gable went on and on about how the Academy does this and does that, but honestly, what has the Academy done for Gable or Otis? Nothing much. Ever since the Profits came to SmackDown, they’ve been champions, lost the titles. The Academy’s got views on social media, worked on those hips, but they’re chasing the wrong currency. The Profits don’t chase views or mentions, they chase money.

So the business proposition was denied, as they should have. Day one, not quite like the Usos. They like to have fun, but not like the New Day. They’re about business but not like the Hurt Business. Street Profits heard a proposition, rejected it, then Otis shows up to avenge his partner. That much is cool, Ford would do that for Dawks and vice-versa. But here is where the problem came up. If Ford had a disagreement with Heyman, which he wouldn’t have, he wouldn’t get physical because that’d be disrespectful. If this was a match in the ring, then sure. That’s warranted. But we’re talking business. Hands are thrown just because Otis is upset.

That’s the trend now: truth gets out, everyone gets mad. Otis got mad cuz no one wants to join up? That’s just backwards. The truth sets your free, that is the parameters of life. The truth makes things better. But it’s all good. This is what the Profits live off of. They have a good time. The world is tough right now so for them to give everyone that good time is a blessing. They’re grateful for that. But next week, we’ll find out that these hands work. Those boys’ face are gonna beat up the Profits’ hands. This is gonna be work not even the Academy has a class for. Ford and Dawkins could do this all night but to keep it simple. They live, breathe and die by these four words: we want the smoke.

Talking Smack returns, and Kayla gives the floor to Heyman.

Heyman knows Kevin will settle the score with Sami Zayn, Azeez and Apollo Crews, as he should and can. Heyman has faith in Kevin that he can. And then with the Profits, he is sure they’ll settle the score with the Alpha Academy as “the most progressive, transformative tag team in the past 20 years in the WWE, all-time greats. Mount Rushmore of tag teams.” Undefeated Raw Tag Team Champions, got cheated as SmackDown Tag Team Champions, Gable & Otis have no idea what they’ve stepped into. And now, Heyman will of course address the events involving Roman Reigns and the Usos.

Just as the Usos looked to be losing a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match with the Mysterios, Roman attacked to throw the match out. Roman brutalized Dominik Mysterio most of all, and only Jimmy spoke up to say that was too much. Jimmy wanted Jey to leave with him, but Roman wouldn’t let Jey exit the ring. Roman continued to brutalize Dominik, Jey did nothing as Roman dead lift POWERBOMB’D Dominik. This was Rey and Dominik! Rey is coming for revenge! Heyman’s thoughts? “That’ll be his first inclination, yeah, and I understand it as a father to someone who threw a beating to my son to that regard. I’d come for revenge. But don’t. Don’t make that mistake. You won’t win this battle, Rey.”

Heyman says Kevin can win his battles because he’s Kevin Owens. Kevin is facing Azeez, a giant in his own right, and that’s interesting to Heyman. Kevin’s facing the Intercontinental Champion, Apollo Crews, and that is also interesting to Heyman. Kevin is facing Sami Zayn, and that is interesting just on getting to see Sami get beat up. The Street Profits will get revenge on the Alpha Academy, as they should as an aggrieved party. But while Rey is a legend, helping his son break into this industry, he’s coming up against The Tribal Chief. What happened to Dom was not on a whim. That was out of anger because Roman felt his family was being disrespected. And Rey’s going to come for revenge?

Rey hasn’t declared his mission, his vendetta, yet, and he shouldn’t. Paul begs Rey not to make this mistake, and he isn’t a begging man. “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the next time Roman Reigns decides to target you or your son, that it won’t be strategized in advance. That there won’t be an endgame involved, that he won’t be counseled as to what to do, because Roman Reigns unhinged… The show doesn’t end with Michael and Pat going, ‘Oh my God, oh poor Dominik! Oh, what did we witness here? The Tribal Chief stands tall!’ The show ends in silence. The show ends with something really bad happening.

“The show ends where your family is permanently impacted, where Dominik never, ever wrestles again.” Where Rey, who is a luchador and already doesn’t show his face, wouldn’t be able to face anyone in the locker room because he would be labeled the father who did NOTHING to save his own son. If you want to protect Dom, it’s not about revenge. It’s about walking away from this now. Because you can’t win this won. You’re not man enough to do it and never will be. And that’s not an insult to Rey, that’s an indictment upon the entire world that is number TWO in a Universe, and a multiverse, where there is only ONE number one. And that one is Roman… Reigns.

My Thoughts:

Another great Talking Smack, and it seems to be working for them to keep it to two guest segments with Heyman being the ending. Heyman getting on Kayla about over-celebrating birthdays and then how birthdays should “really” go was pretty fun for the opening ramble. Kevin had a good segment to put things in perspective about his own career. It oddly goes in line with Sami saying this was karma attacking him, not Sami himself. I hope Sami VS Kevin is at Hell in a Cell in the cell, those two guys did great at WrestleMania 37 in just a singles match, so them going above and beyond in the cell would be amazing.

The Street Profits’ segment was great for them showing their serious side. I’m reminded of a promo Degeneration X had before facing Rated RKO. HHH and HBK talked about having the fun loving side and then the brutal side, and I would love if the Profits could show that same brutality. At a certain point, WWE needs to get the RawDown tag divisions going again, and the Profits being able to entertain with both their exciting moves and their aggression would be great to get fans back into this once WWE is on the road. Heyman’s closing promo was of course another homerun, he warns Rey but I’m sure Rey won’t listen. They could tease Rey VS Roman but I’m sure HIAC is still Roman VS Jimmy with title and Jey’s loyalties on the line.