WrestleMania 36 is done and dusted, and now we move on to Money In The Bank.
Friday’s SmackDown was the first since last weekend’s double header, where we got a new Universal champion as Braun Strowman defeated Goldberg to win the gold.
However, the titleholder already has an exciting challenger, who revealed himself at the end of the show.
Kicking off the night, the Monster Among Men made his way to the ring as he put over his own Mania performance by replacing Roman Reigns at the last minute, took everything Goldberg threw at him and put him down for good.
However, he got interrupted by Shinsuke Nakamura, how wanted an opportunity after defeating Braun last time they were in a ring.
Cesaro arrived and Nak attacked, setting up tonight’s main event with an underwhelming but decent enough start to the show.
Fast forward to end of the show, to pair put on a decent enough match with Cesaro at ringside, doing his best to help his buddy but in the end this was Strowman’s match to win.
That wasn’t all though, as Bray Wyatt appeared in the Firefly Funhouse and relived his WrestleMania victory and congratulated Braun.
Alongside flashbacks, he said Strowman turned his back on Wyatt and the family, as the puppets – besides Ramblin’ Rabbit, of course – urged Bray not to forgive Braun for what he did in the past.
Braun didn’t care for saying sorry, but Wyatt wants a title shot, claiming he brought the champion into the world of WWE and he can take him out of it.
Strowman was fired up, insisting he’s ready to let Bray in.
After hitting some heights with his John Cena feud, giving Wyatt another storyline with some real history is a very smart move.
It’s not quite on the level of his past with Cena, but Braun and Bray have enough background to make this an intriguing feud – and it’d be great to see The Fiend recapture the gold.
Best of the rest
Earlier in the show, it was WrestleMania rematch o’clock as new Women’s Tag Team champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross defend the gold against former champs the Kabuki Warriors.
Although the ad breaks hurt the flow here, this was a really fun match on the level of their Mania bout, with the right duo winning as the titleholders built some early momentum in their reign.
Later in the show, a surprise team of Dana Brooke and Carmella laid down a challenge, and Nikki accepted to set up the unexpected bout.
The greatest love story ever told also rolled on, as Otis and Mandy Rose have been training together and generally living it up.
Otis’ boy Tucker still isn’t happy with Dolph Ziggler, but he couldn’t beat him in their match tonight, which was solid enough for the time they had.
We also got treated to an Elias performance, as the troubadour – complete with a clap track – sang about his victory over King Corbin and teased a Money In The Bank win.
It’s hard to know who will get the coveted briefcase and title opportunity this year, but if WWE are serious about Elias, this could be a great chance for him.
The Dirt Sheet was back this week with SmackDown Tag Team champs Miz and Morrison boasting about the latter’s Mania win to retain the gold over Jimmy Uso and Kofi KIngston.
Eventually, they got interrupted by The Usos calling for a title shot, and the New Day echoed the sentiment.
In the end, because the original Mania match didn’t happen, next week we’ll get Jey Uso vs. Big E vs. The Miz this time – and the championships are on the line.
The Forgotten Sons made their SmackDown debut this week, moving over from NXT and beating Lucha House Party in a solid first appearance.
We got more Sasha Banks and Bayley build this week, as they hit out at the sheep and Paige for trying to turn them against each other.
It all led to the SmackDown Women’s champ setting up a match next week, where if Tamina can beat the Boss next week, she’ll earn a title match against Bayley.
It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out, and whether WWE will wait until Money In The Bank next month to break up the duo.
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