Segment 1: It's Chris Jericho to start us off tonight, as it's the return of the Highlight Reel! During his intro, we get a RAW montage of what Jericho did to Dean Ambrose, and OO Bylaw #1 shall be enforced. Back to “live,” and Jericho says that he kicked Ambrose's ass so hard that he's not even here since he's too damaged. Strangely no update on Mitch, so I'm just going to assume he got future endeavored.

After that short aside, Jericho calls down his guest, Sami Zayn, whose music has earwormed its way into me the past week. So, uh, thanks for that, WWE.

Another RAW montage, and then Jericho gives Zayn the business for attacking Kevin Owens (making him a sore loser) and posing with the Intercontinental Title (making him a dirty thief). Zayn disagrees, thinks that people would agree that he's actually a decent guy, just like people would agree that Jericho's scarf is stupid. Regardless, Zayn doesn't care about losing to Owens; he cares about Owens sucker-punching him after the match.

He wants to explain about taking the IC Title, but Miz's music interrupts the interview. Miz and Maryse hit the ring, and Miz interprets it as Zayn riding Owens's coattails into WWE, and now wants to ride on his coattails. So if he ever lays another finger on his title...

Zayn cuts him off by tapping the title, and Jericho tries to instigate a fight. Zayn then turns that into an insult against Jericho's Lite Brite jacket, which upsets Jericho enough to make him throw a tantrum and leave. Heh.

Zayn calls him a jackass as he exits while Miz puts over himself and resume. He's been here eleven years after all! And Zayn has no respect, so he better start. Zayn says nothing, and just fingers the title again. Heh, again.

Maryse then takes over and talks shit, then gives Zayn a threat in the form of an indirect challenge. Miz isn't so sure about it, but Zayn solidifies it by taking off his jacket. Miz goes for a sucker punch but misses, then bails before anything can happen against him. We go to ads, but we all know where we'll be on the other side.

Segment 2 [Singles Match]: Sami Zayn defeats The Miz (w/ Maryse) by disqualification. Pretty basic match opening with a few exchanges, with Zayn getting the majority of the offense. Things take a turn when Miz is chucked from the ring then pulls Zayn outside it. Miz whips Zayn toward the corner of the barricade, but he counters by stepping up onto the barricade and hitting a moonsault off it. It may not get a “holy shit” from the crowd, but I'm chanting it in my head. Nicely done.

Zayn throws Miz back into the ring from there, but he gets interrupted by Owens, who hits ringside with his full entrance. This takes to another set of ads, which isn't a great precursor to how this episode is going to be timed out.

Back, and Miz is in control as Owens joins commentary, because he's awesome, especially since he just sardonically insults Miz for celebrating a simple double ax handle off the top rope. Regardless, Miz throws himself out of the ring on the east side thanks to a Zayn slip, and Zayn follows up with a suicide plancha. Then he talks shit at Owens, who calmly responds and even sits back down. Then Zayn throws Miz back in the ring, and only then does Owens slide in and assault him from behind. Welp, that happened.

Post-Segment 2: After a quick conversation, Miz and Owens double-team Zayn. It's Cesaro who makes the save so quickly that he forgot to take off his sunglasses. Well, “save” may be a bit of a misnomer, as he nails Zayn at one point with a European Uppercut. All three bail, and Cesaro steals Miz's title and poses with it. Looks like Cesaro wants to add his name to the hat for contenders!

Segment 3: Yet another recap, this time of the main event title picture situation. OO Bylaw #1 stays active. Back to “live,” and AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson chat in the locker room. They say that back in the day, Styles wouldn't have “broken the chair” over Roman Reigns's back; AJ counters that it's not “back in the day” anymore, and he doesn't need to go that route with Reigns since he can beat him on his own. Anderson says he respects that, but does Reigns? Gallows hilarious just says “No” at this point, and Anderson goes on that AJ will have to “get extreme” for the match and rivalry. Styles considers that, then says maybe it's time for a chat with Reigns.

Segment 4: Puerto Rico is better than literally every other place on Earth!

Pre-Segment 5: Recap of Enzo Amore's injury at Payback. OO Bylaw #1, though it means that the Vaudevillains are the #1 contenders to the WWE Tag Team Titles by default.

Speaking of, the Vaudevillains are here.

Segment 5 [Tag Match]: The Vaudevillains extend-squash Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas of the Social Outcasts by pin. OO Bylaw #2. I know Adam Rose has been suspended for a Wellness Policy violation, but where's Heath Slater?

After the match, Big Cass pops out of the back and talks some shit to the Vaudevillains, then gets in the ring. The heels attack but don't get very far with their efforts, and Cass is able to clean house. Then Axel gets in the ring for no reason and tells off the Vaudevillains as well, calling them Sawft. But Cass is too angry to make friends, so he just flattens Axel with the Big River Crossing. Aw, that makes me a little sad.

Segment 6: Another recap, this time regarding who is in control of RAW. OO Bylaw #1.

Segment 7 [Tag Match]: Wait, no... just the faces' entrance, then more ads.

Segment 7 For Real: Breast Cancer awareness.

Segment 8 [Tag Match]: Natalya & Becky Lynch defeat Emma & Charlotte (w/ Flair) by submission. Solid match from the women, though not “for the women.” Best match of the night so far.

Natalya and Charlotte to open with even exchanges and short but solid chain wrestling. Doesn't take long before the faces make some quick tags to keep Charlotte isolated in the faces' half of the ring. Charlotte finally gets some offense when Natalya takes her back, and Charlotte forces a break with the ropes, then sucker-punches Natalya.

Momentum reverses then as the heels make quick tags and keep Natalya isolated with double-team strikes. Emma loses her mind a little when she gets her chance, as she just goes for heavy strikes and some roughneck offense, something I haven't seen from the women for a very long time. Charlotte just uses basic strikes, including a stiff slap that she dedicates to Ric. (Cutely, this is one of the very few times where a wrestler slipped the timeline, as the camera mics pick up Charlotte saying she's slapping Natalya to avenge her father “for last night.” We all know that SmackDown is taped on Tuesdays, but it's almost never acknowledged on-screen, even by the wrestlers.)

Charlotte holds momentum with rest holds and basic offense. But when the heels try another double-team move—as Emma puts her foot on the top rope when Charlotte tries to bash Natalya's face into it—Natalya reverses and Charlotte takes the damage instead. False hot tag to Becky, who lariats the crap out of Emma (Mauro: “She's treating Emma like an Internet troll!”). During the rally, Charlotte pulls Emma out of the ring to save her. Becky goes to follow, but stupidly turns her back on Emma to talk shit to Charlotte, so Emma clubs her in the back of the head. Becky correctly oversells, as it makes Emma's mean streak look solid.

Emma throws Becky back in the ring and tags back in Charlotte, who keeps the offense with rest holds that target her neck, and that takes us to ads. Once we're back, Charlotte is going for strikes to Becky's legs to weaken her for the Figure Eight. Becky gets a mini rally, but Charlotte snuffs it out with a big boot, so the heels go back to just double-teaming and isolating Becky. This culminates in a sick spot where Emma ties up Becky (though still standing) in the top rope, plants a foot on her back, then pulls her arms repeatedly, basically bending Becky's spine backwards in all the wrong places. It's an illegal move, so the ref counts to four; Emma breaks it, but as Becky leans forward across the middle rope in pain, Charlotte comes out of nowhere with a running big boot along the apron. Jesus.

But Becky isn't one to give up, and after a couple more tags from the heels, Becky fights back with strikes to Emma's gut. Becky follows up with a kick and counters out of an Irish Whip to the corner, then an enziguri gives her just enough room. True hot tag to Natalya, who goes house of fire against Charlotte with all her signatures including the Basement Dropkick and Nattie By Nature. Natalya even locks in the Sharpshooter, but Charlotte is close enough to her corner to tag out.

Emma goes back on offense and even gets a pin on Natalya, but Becky makes the save. Pier Four Brawl results in Charlotte hitting ringside on the east. Becky stays on her feet and acts as the bodyguard as Natalya locks in the Sharpshooter on Emma. No choice here, and Emma taps out while Charlotte basically doesn't bother even trying to make the save.

Segment 9: The Usos and Roman Reigns are chatting in their locker room when AJ Styles arrive. Styles tells Reigns that he may have taken the high road with the steel chair on Monday, but he won't next time. Reigns rhetorically asks if it's a good idea to be making threats. Styles ignores that, then asks if Reigns will be out for the main event (which is the Usos vs. Galloway & Anderson). Reigns affirms, so Styles promises he'll be out there too.

Segment 10: Darren Young is apparently changing his gimmick as he looks for a life coach. Apparently he's got Bob Backlund, who steals Trump's slogan as he asserts he will “Make Darren Young great again.” This... this is going to get weird, isn't it?

Segment 11 [Singles Match]: Rusev (w/ Lana) reverse-squashes Zack Ryder by pin. Wow, I'm actually suspending OO Bylaw #2! Zack went ultra-aggressive with several head-targeted attacks, including shoving Rusev forehead-first into a ring post. After Rusev finally gets back on offense, he's got one hell of an egg on his forehead that continues to get worse for the rest of the match. He never had a chance to glue that shit on, so... damn, it must be legit. Gross, and he gets my sympathy.

Anyway, after that, Rusev... well, he did the squash. After the match, Kalisto hit the ring and kicked him a couple times, then bailed before anything could happen. So... moral victory I guess?

Segment 12: Fandango tries to help coach Goldust how to dance, but Goldust can't really get it going. That's when R-Truth and Tyler Breeze arrive, the latter of whom could not give less of a shit as he's taking selfies, of course. When Fandango tries to taunt Truth with dancing, it's on, and Truth tries to give his selfie branch and duct taped phone to Breeze, who absolutely ignores the handoff and lets Truth drop it on the cement floor. This was funnier than it had any right to be.

So Truth makes Goldust hold it instead, then makes Goldust drop a sick beat as he dances back at Fandango. Fandango is upset enough about this that he makes a formal challenge between the teams, which is the only reason Breeze decides to pay attention. Truth accepts, and Breeze is on board, though Goldust looks a little unsure. Truth takes his selfie branch and runs off as Fandango orders more dancing practice for Goldust, who protests that his hips are out of alignment.

I have to say, while I agree with Rick that they've let this storyline play out a little too long, it still makes me smile, and it's still entertaining, plus they've kept things a bit fresh with the addition of Fandango and Breeze. And as long as it's entertaining, I am absolutely for seeing it.

Segment 13 [Tag Match]: Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows (w/ AJ Styles) defeat The Usos (w/ Roman Reigns) by disqualification. Not really a match, but it's Anderson and Jey to open, with Jey basically doing all the offense with some stiff strikes that lead to a pinning situation, but that gets only a two. Then it's Anderson with stiff strikes until he hits a solid dropkick out of nowhere. Fast tags among the faces isolate Anderson until he back body drops Jimmy over the top rope near the southwest corner. Reigns heads over to check on him, but he wanders a little too close to the ropes, and Anderson takes that moment to face-wash Reigns with his foot.

Reigns isn't taking that shit, so he slides in the ring and tries to punch Anderson's beard off his face. This draws the DQ, and everything breaks down into a Pier Six Brawl. Every referee and road agent in the world heads down the ramp to separate them. Though Styles and his boys are pushed back to the ramp, Styles magicks up a microphone and says that they're going to finish what they started, since this is SmackDown, whatever the hell that means. Mauro translates that he asked for a six-man tag match, which is most certainly not what he said but we're rolling with it, and we go to ads.

Segment 14 [Six-Man Tag Match]: Roman Reigns & The Usos defeat Karl Anderson, AJ Styles, & Luke Gallows by pin. The pacing of this match was awesome, and pretty much balls-to-the-wall from start to finish. Difficult to recap, but really entertaining to watch.

We're back just in time for the bell to ring as we start with Reigns and Styles. The offense is absolutely 50/50 with strikes, and things don't change until Styles drives Reigns to the corner and tags in Anderson. Anderson applies some offense to Reigns until Reigns counters a corner whip with an elbow, then tags in Jey.

Both sides victimize the other before a quick tag reverses momentum like a metronome. Gallows only finally get some momentum after he boots Jimmy off the apron and into the barricade, then isolates him in their corner. Jimmy breaks out after a minute and hot tags Reigns, who goes house of fire on Anderson with his dozen lariats.

Reigns signals for the Superman Punch, and he manages to blast Gallows off the apron with it. Then he wants one against Styles too, but Styles counters with a stunner with the top rope. As Reigns snaps back from that, Anderson tries to do some damage, but Reigns blasts him with a Superman Punch out of nowhere. He then signals a Spear, but Styles takes him out with a forearm (but not quite a Phenomenal Forearm) out of nowhere. Shoots the half, but only two. Anderson gives him a spinebuster with the same result.

So Anderson decides to go for a corner-to-corner charge from there, but Reigns explodes out with a Spear out of nowhere. The Usos by then had Styles and Gallows contained, so Reigns made the pin despite Styles trying to make the save.

After the match, Reigns stood tall with the title. Styles slid in the ring to stare him down anyway during replays. After replays, Reigns posed with the belt just to be a jerk.

Final Thoughts: By the time the main event came around, I was bored. The women's match was awesome, but everything else, man... way too many recaps. The non-recap fillers were kept to a minimum, and the recaps tapered off in the second hour, but there just wasn't enough stuff to maintain my interest. Nothing was bad... just questionable time management. You should absolutely give the women's match a watch, and maybe the main event tag match (since it's probably way better in a vacuum), but otherwise... meh.

Not much more to say that I haven't already, and my latest caffeine buzz is abating, so I may call it an early night. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in seven for another one.

Episode Grade: C