6/26 WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT: Edge vs. Roman Reigns made official, Rollins reacts to Edge’s return, Carmella talks Money in the Bank, more

WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT
JUNE 26, 2021
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Kayla Braxton and Paul Heyman

This week’s guest: Carmela, Big E, and Seth Rollins

– Kayla, as normal welcomed us to Talking Smack with a quick touting of the upcoming Money in the Bank PPV and then much to my chagrin, welcomed, instead of Paul Heyman, Pat McAfee as her co-host.

(Morgan’s Analysis: I will say up front that I do not think McAfee is bad when announcing matches and his over-the-top attitude is fine in that environment. What bothers me about him is that he keeps things amped up all the time. That annoys me. This said, we will see how he does in this environment, hopefully, Kayla can control him.)

– Kayla explained Paul’s absence by his necessity to put out some fires resulting from the ending of Smackdown this week (appearance of Edge). Kayla and McAfee talked a little bit about going back on the road and how great the Thunderdome, with McAfee overselling Talking Smack a bit by calling it the most watched weekly show on Peacock. I do not think so, if that is the case, NBC and Peacock have some major problems.

– Kayla and McAfee ran down the show highlighting the ending angle with Roman and Edge and the coronation of Shinsuke Nakamura (even they could not figure out how to say the new moniker for Nakamura, Kingsuke, guess they should have rehearsed a bit). After teasing this week’s guests, Kayla sent us off to a break for a Money in the Bank promo and the standard (and quite repetitive) Back on the Road promo.

– And we are back with Carmella, who appeared with two make-up artists making sure she was “beautiful”, and was drinking champagne. McAfee talked for a while as Carmella ignored him, finally commenting on Kayla’s hair. To his credit, McAfee asked Carmella if there was a survey or something that proclaimed her as the most beautiful. When Kayla asked why Carmella was just added to Money in the Bank, Carmella, leaning fully into the beautiful angle, said she got the spot because she is Carmella and danced around saying “look at me.” While Kayla asked about Liv Morgan and her two victories over Carmella, Carmella just ignored her and continued to primp and pose.

– Off to break again for a Broken Skull Sessions ad and a Summerslam promo.

– Back to show with Big E. Unfortunately, to start things off we got “funny” Big E as he snuck out from behind the monitors and sat in a chair that was set very low. Big E noted that this would be his first time in Money in the Bank. McAfee kept talking about Big E being able to lift a ton of weight and Kayla finally brought things back to wrestling asking Big E how it felt to beat Apollo Crews. Big E “preached” that he was going to win Money in the Bank and it would be great. Big E then got into it with McAfee talking about how great a punter McAfee was and how he was so excited to watch him. As Kayla tried to send it to break, but Big E and McAfee danced.

(Morgan’s Analysis: This was another opportunity lost for Big E. I don’t know if it’s the writers or what, but Big E cannot help himself and he plays the clown and the entertainer, instead of the sports star. I do not know where this singles run of Big E’s will end up, but if this is the persona he continues to put front and center, I do not think it will end with him at the top of the card.)

– Another break here with the vaccine PSA and a Raw promo.

– After a quick promo by Kayla for the Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn match next week, Seth Rollins joined the set in an absolutely horrible graphic jacket that was hard on the eyes. Rollins started off by saying that he was rollin’ having dominated Cesaro at Hell in a Cell and then on Smackdown. Kayla brought up Edge and asked what Seth thought about his appearance and his obvious claim on the next match against Roman. As Seth inaccurately claimed that Adam Pierce and Sonya Deville had guaranteed him the shot against Roman, Kayla broke in with breaking news that was captured right after Smackdown went off the air.

– The video showed Edge coming backstage and barging in on Pierce and Deville demanding a match against Roman (one on one) at Money in the Bank, to which Pierce simply said, “you got your match.” Back on the set, Seth acted like he had no audio and did not hear what happened, and both Kayla and McAfee advised him that it was official, that Roman vs. Edge would be the match at Money in the Bank. Seth was incredulous and claiming that this was everything he worked, and it was not fair. Seth went ballistic saying that he deserved the match, that he had been here everyday and that it was not fair at all, Seth basically went gonzo and left the set muttering to himself.

– I really hope that this whole bit by Seth is not a set up for yet another three-way match for Edge, but mark my words, do not count it out, though I think the one on one between Edge and Roman will happen and then Edge will move on to Seth for Summer Slam.

– And that was it, Kayla thanked McAfee and we were out.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Not a taxing 27 minutes this week and McAfee did manage to contain himself enough for me to enjoy his appearance, though he came close to going over the top with Big E. The Carmella segment was a total waste of time and pushed an angle that I hate in that Carmella’s value is in her beauty, not in her talent. Bad form WWE. What happened to the women’s evolution? Big E was fine, just more of his shtick and no seriousness. Seth is a very good performer and while his character right now is not my cup of tea, he commits to it and makes it watchable. Bottom line, this week seemed to be totally about getting to the announcement of the Edge vs. Roman Reigns match and everything else was just there to fill time.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S TALKING SMACK REPORT: 6/19 WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT: Kayla Braxton, Sami Zayn rants on the WWE, more