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This week's edition of SmackDown Live ended in an... interesting way.
Roman Reigns was walking backstage ready to speak to Kayla Braxton about a challenge he was going to make for SummerSlam before scaffolding fell onto him in one of the most weirdly-executed segments in recent WWE history. The idea was a great one, but the execution was ambitious at best.
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It turned out to be a person driving a forklift and the culprit will likely be revealed next week, with a SummerSlam match between him and the Big Dog. However, that should not be the case. It would be in WWE's best interests to prolong this angle until after the 'Biggest Party of the Summer' is concluded. They really should do so much more with this scaffolding attack.
Here are four reasons why the driver of the forklift should have his identity revealed after SummerSlam instead of before the show
#4 "Whodunnit" angles usually play out for weeks
It really is simple, but the classic story of a mystery man attacking a WWE superstar backstage is one of the most effective angles that WWE uses. It is a fun storytelling device where the fans are filled with intrigue, left guessing who could the assailant be. The company has used the extended "Whodunnit" on Raw, SmackDown and NXT in the past three years.
In order to obtain the highest interest in this storyline, WWE should prolong the revelation of the attacker. In 2016, it took weeks to find out who attacked Nikki Bella at Survivor Series and Enzo Amore had been getting attacked for a solid month before Big Cass was revealed as the culprit. It jams up the intrigue on the show, giving fans a good reason to tune into SmackDown for a number of weeks.
The "Whodunnit" storyline with Aleister Black was one of the best in the entirety of last year. WWE should really let this investigation last a few weeks, instead of rushing it in time for next week's big show.
#3 Roman Reigns already has an ongoing feud for SummerSlam
This week on Raw, Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe took part in a 'Samoan Summit'. Obviously, it ended up being a big brawl. Drew McIntyre and Cedric Alexander joined the fray, signaling that the Scotsman's beef with Reigns is not yet over. WWE could club the two feuds and have a single tag team match at SummerSlam, despite the scaffolding attack on SmackDown.
The Big Dog could instantly blame Joe for the attack, with the former NXT Champion neither accepting or denying his involvement in the attack. The rivalry would at SummerSlam before the mystery attacker shows himself after the pay-per-view. It has been done before, between Nikki Bella, Carmella, and Natalya. WWE should just not leave this stone unturned, especially after the show-closing brawl on Raw.
If Roman Reigns does face his attacker at SummerSlam, and it is not Samoa Joe, that leaves him in limbo for next Sunday.
#2 This feud could culminate on SmackDown's Fox debut
October 4th is set to be a very significant day in WWE history. It will be the debut of Friday Night SmackDown on Fox, with the importance of it rising as we approach the fall. It could possibly be the biggest TV episode in WWE's history. The company will pull out all the stops to make it one hell of a show, with it taking place at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The mainstream nature of this show could be huge, especially with a possible appearance from the Rock.
However, for all the pomp and circumstance, there must be some good wrestling on the show to entice first-time viewers to tune in the following week. WWE will need to book some big matches on the show and one of the bigger matches they could book is the one between Roman Reigns and his mystery attacker, provided they build the story properly and don't rush it. It would be a great non-PPV platform to see a potentially compelling story like this culminate.
WWE really needs to focus on long-term storytelling and stop rushing big matches and moments. Hopefully, the Fox deal will help them learn a lesson that they mastered a decade or so ago.
#1 One week would be too less to build a match this big
Whoever operated the forklift and dropped the scaffolding on Roman Reigns, one week is way too little time for a proper story to brew. That is especially the case if the man in question is Daniel Bryan, as has been reported. Now, a match between these two stars is way too huge to have a build of a single episode of SmackDown. Reigns vs Bryan is a match that could feasibly main event WrestleMania. They are the two biggest full-time stars in the company.
It would honestly be slightly foolish of WWE to book a match of such magnitude without a proper build, on a card that's stacked with huge matches with much stronger stories. Despite the talent that both superstars possess, this match could get lost in the shuffle on the 5-hour Supercard especially with the lack of storyline behind it.
WWE should ideally let this angle play out for a couple of weeks and reveal Daniel Bryan as the attacker after SummerSlam. Then we can build to a match at Clash of Champions or better, SmackDown's debut on Fox. It would only benefit the storytelling in WWE at a time when it has improved a lot.
