5/8 WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT: Rey and Dominick address winning the tag titles, Owens talks birthday stories, Heyman stews in disgust over main event, more

WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT
MAY 8, 2021
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Kayla Braxton and Paul Heyman

This week’s guest: Rey & Dominic Mysterio, Sonya Deville, and Kevin Owens, with a final word from Paul on the Roman vs. Daniel Bryan match.

– Talking Smack opened up with Paul and Kayla talking as if they didn’t know they were on the air with Paul saying, he didn’t want to talk about it. Kayla complained that he was ruining her “cool” opening. Regardless, Kayla finally welcomed us to the show as the camera focused on her and Paul and Kayla let out with a big “holla, holla, holla” and she and her new hairdo welcomed us to Talking Smack.

– Kayla noted that this was a “Throwback” edition, hence her new curly hairdo. Kayla went off on a monologue about how great Cesaro was and Paul immediately commented on Kayla’s bias as she is supposed to be the unbiased one while he is supposed to be the “heel” one. Kayla and Paul continued to banter back and forth as has become their norm, while recapping the ending angle of Smackdown with Jimmy Uso and Cesaro complete with full screen video footage. Kayla also promoted the women’s tag team championship match next week on Smackdown and then quickly introduced Rey and Dominic Mysterio.

– Dominic said that he took care of business and Rey said he was proud of him. Kayla then played the insults that Dolph Ziggler spouted during Smackdown and Dominic noted that he was 24 years old and did not give any credence to Dolph’s comments.

(Morgan’s Analysis: Dominic may have some credibility in the ring, but on the mic, he talks very quietly and shows little passion in his speaking. He come across very meek and Rey actually handles most of the talking.)

– Paul then brought up that he would not bet against the Mysterio family and wished them luck in the quest to become the first father/son tag team champions.

– Kayla teased that Sonya Deville would be next and sent us off to break for a Raw promo and the WWE 2K22 video game commercial featuring Mysterio.

– And we are back with Sonya dressed in blue. As Kayla started to question Sonya, Paul interrupted and said that Kayla was interfering with his flirting with Sonya. After briefly discussing Sonya’s interaction with Teddy Long, Kayla questioned Sonya on the fact that it seems like she is being very manipulative and seemingly taking on power that she does not have. Of course, Sonya denied that she was doing anything untoward and that she is just doing her best to make the best decisions and create the best Raw and Smackdown that she can make.

– After all the denials, Paul just went off, and noted that Sonya is a mixed-martial artist, and that Sonya needs to stop being so nice and that she needs to draw a line in the sand and show everyone who she is and take over Raw and Smackdown and just run over everyone – including Adam Pearce. After this in a very strange moment, Paul and Sonya shake hands and Sonya says, “she isn’t the person Paul thinks she is anymore” and leaves the set.

(Morgan’s Analysis: I’m not sure what they are doing here, but it seems like a really bad attempt to once again set up a swerve moment when Sonya will in fact do just what Paul suggests and “take over” as a heel authority figure. Very disjointed and frankly a totally forgettable and boring segment.)

– Off to break again with a Backlash promo featuring the Raw Women’s Championship match and the vaccine PSA.

– And we are back with Kevin Owens. Kayla wished Kevin a Happy Birthday as it was his birthday on Friday night. Kevin used this to tell a story about a previous birthday when he was traveling with Sami Zayn, Big Cass, and a mystery person. While Kevin was dragging the story out Paul mentioned that the fourth person must have been someone who could tolerate a “prick like Sami” and Kevin came back and said well it was someone who now tolerates a “prick like Paul Heyman” and revealed that the fourth person was Roman Reigns. Kevin went on to say it was fun, but he would never want to do that now, because Roman has changed.

– Kevin continued telling stories using the whole situation to talk smack (pun intended) about how Roman and Jey Uso have changed and are not good people anymore. He talked about he tried so hard the first time he was champion to make the show the best it could be, but ultimately, he didn’t enjoy it. Owens then said that when he becomes the Universal Champion again (when ever that opportunity comes) he will enjoy it. He says to Paul, “don’t forget about him” and that he will be there waiting to take the championship away from Roman and then twirled around on his stool while Paul frowned at him and Kayla sent us off to break promising a statement from Paul when we return.

(Morgan’s Analysis: I have to say that this whole segment was totally pointless and was obviously only there to set up the potential for what will probably be a very short second feud between Kevin and Roman to help in getting Roman to SummerSlam where there will undoubtedly be a big match for him against someone (Jimmy Uso, perhaps). I am shaking my head here, Kevin is great, but this segment just sat there in didn’t really go anywhere.)

– This break we saw the Stone Cold promo for the 2022 WrestleMania in Dallas.

– And we are back. Kayla gave a quick recap of the happenings on Smackdown concerning Roman Reigns and the family. Kayla made the point that the house seems divided right now and that if everything was in place, Roman would most likely win, but with the house divided, Roman may well fall. With that she threw it to Paul who had been making some very upset looking facial expressions during Kayla’s set up.

– Paul’s response to this was a totally non-verbal 45 seconds. He made faces, looked at his phone, removed his earpiece and mic and that was it.

(Morgan’s Analysis: Very disappointing. I enjoyed Kayla handing out some smack to Paul and she was good, but having Paul just make faces was ineffective and a rare misstep in the whole Roman Reigns saga that has been so good.)

– And that was all she wrote, and the show ended.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Plain and simple this was a total waste of 28 minutes. Yes, the opening Kayla and Paul banter was fun, and Kevin is always a good watch, but tonight his efforts were in support of nothing. Rey and Dominic, along with Sonya were total zeros and the build up to a show ending Paul Heyman rant was not paid off. I give a huge shout out to Kayla’s new hair style, but otherwise, not a good night tonight in the least.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S TALKING SMACK REPORT: 5/1 WWE TALKING SMACK REPORT: Heyman addresses Reigns vs. Bryan main event, Seth talks next week’s match with Cesaro, more