One night after the Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia, WWE was back in the United States for SmackDown on Friday night. The show dealt with both the fallout of Crown Jewel and the implementation of the changes coming out of the recent WWE Draft.
The big story coming out of SmackDown was Brock Lesnar appearing to attack Roman Reigns, something Lesnar promised he would do after Reigns used underhanded tactics to retain his universal championship against Lesnar at Crown Jewel. Unfortunately for Lesnar, he went a little too far and caught a suspension in the process.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.
Brock Lesnar handed an indefinite suspension
The show opened with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman coming to the ring for a promo. Reigns immediately questioned Heyman on why he threw the championship in the middle of the ring until directly to Reigns during his match with Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel. Reigns then made Heyman repeat Lesnar's threat from Twitter stating Lesnar would "beat Reigns senseless" on this edition of SmachDown. Reigns dared Lesnar to follow through on his promise and claimed Lesnar was scared before saying he wouldn't leave the ring until Lesnar came out.
Lesnar did eventually make his way to the ring, immediately attacking – and dominating – Reigns. As Lesnar was readying to put Reigns through the announce table with an F-5, The Usos briefly made a save only for Lesnar to take them out as well. Adam Pearce sent a large segment of the locker room out to calm Lesnar down, though he ran through most of them as well before finally climbing back in the ring and celebrating with the universal title as Reigns and The Usos escaped up the entrance ramp. Adam Pearce then announced that Lesnar was indefinitely suspended, which drew Lesnar back to the ring to deliver a pair of F-5s to Pearce.
Lesnar being a part-time performer means you need to come up with reasons why he isn't at TV and pay-per-view events between appearances. This is doubly true with Heyman not actively serving as Lesnar's advocate and mouthpiece on TV. With that in mind, this was as effective as you can really get at getting Lesnar off TV without simply disappearing. Reigns was dominated, which gives more fuel to the eventual rematch and Lesnar goes away for a while but looks strong. Sometimes simple is effective. Grade: B+
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zayn via pinfall after a Claymore. Zayn answered an open challenge from McIntyre who was looking to test out the SmackDown roster on his first night on the brand.
- Kofi Kingston held a "coronation" for Xavier Woods, celebrating his King of the Ring victory.
- Mansoor def. Mustafa Ali via pinfall with a roll-up. Mansoor beat Ali for the second straight night after winning their Crown Jewel clash.
- Hit Row def. Two local Enhancement Talents via pinfall after a combination side slam and running kick.
- Happy Corbin def. Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall after End of Days. Madcap Moss and Rick Boogs briefly got into a confrontation at ringside, causing a distraction that cost Nakamura the match.
- Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair exchanged title belts. Flair, drafted to SmackDown, held the Raw women's title. Lynch was in the opposite situation, as SmackDown champion and drafted to Raw. The two had a title exchange ceremony, briefly jawing before Flair threw down a challenge for a winner-take-all match. This was interrupted by Sasha Banks, who ended the show by knocking Flair from the ring after Lynch said she would see one of the women at Survivor Series.