Last week’s SmackDown had one big finale, as the main event Intercontinental Championship match between Apollo Crews, Big E, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens ended up with Crews retaining his Championship, but it was the way he did it that had fans talking. That’s because Aleister Black made his long-awaited return to WWE television to close out the match, where he hit Big E with a Black Mass that knocked him out and allowed Crews to retain. Many assumed we’d be getting that followed up on this week, but that didn’t happen, and a new report from PW Insider reveals why.
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According to the report, sources say it was actually a creative decision to not rush things and let the story hang for a week. Both Black and Big E were apparently at SmackDown backstage in case they decided to follow up on it with a promo or in-ring segment, but WWE stuck to the plan.
Stories don’t often get a chance to breathe like this, and at least on my end, it did build some additional anticipation for the next chapter of this story, so I’m all for it.
There are some interesting questions left to be answered when Black and Big E do return to television and address what happened, like is Black aligned with Crews and Azeez, and why did he decide to take out Big E as his first move back on SmackDown? Both compelling questions, and hopefully we’ll get a few answers on next week’s SmackDown.
This is a promising feud for several reasons, but one of the biggest is just the two talented individuals involved. Black vs Big E isn’t a matchup fans have seen over and over again for one, and their contrasting styles could yield some amazing results. Plus, E’s been hitting on all cylinders over the past few months and is a perfect opponent for Black’s new more menacing character. This also gives E something interesting storyline-wise after losing the Intercontinental title and could tee him up for what everyone ultimately wants to see, which is him taking on Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship.
We’ll have to wait and see if that happens, but we’re all for this feud in the meantime, and it will give SmackDown yet another compelling storyline to follow every week.
What do you want to see from Aleister Black vs Big E? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things WWE with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!
