By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The battle lines were drawn on Friday Night Smackdown and Seith Rollins clearly is a threat to Roman Reigns' reign as Universal champion and something for the WWE Universe to look forward to yet another war with Brock Lesnar.
That ship sailed at the Day 1 pay-per-view when Reins, out with COVID, saw Lesnar in a 5-way match for the WWE championship.
Let me be clear about one thing here: Seth Rollins is no pushover.
In fact, I expect Rollins to defeat Reigns at the Royal Rumble and a clear direction for the main event at Wrestlemania.
Some highlights from the Rollins-Reigns war of words showdown in the squared circle in the final 10 minutes of Smackdown:
Seth Rollins is in the ring and out comes Roman Reigns. Roman tells Seth before he says anything, he tells the home crowd in Omaha to acknowledge me."Omaha to acknowledge me."
. Seth says we have to acknowledge the fact that this is a moment. Seth says for old times sake as he extends his fist like did years ago when Rollins, Reigns and Dean Ambrose comprised The Shield.
Roman made clear that was now beneath him
Seth then says says "let’s acknowledge the look on Roman’s face when he entered his office last week. And he was the last person on earth he wanted to see."
Seth says their track record in singles matches for championships is one-sided, which it truly is. Seth says he won them all. Roman laughs and says Seth is all about the past.
Reigns tells Seth he must be sleeping under a rock that he is "in God mode" these days. He is the tribal chief, the head of Seth’s table, the greatest of this generation, the greatest Universal champion of all time which makes him the greatest to ever do this.
Seth then asks Roman if he can look at himself in the mirror at night and say that he has done that all by himself. Because that is the difference between them. Without Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins is just fine. Seth was climbing the ladder while Roman was in the CFL. Seth says he was holding Roman’s hand in the shield and after that, Roman needed his bloodline to hold everything up. Seth asks him if he truly understands who the greatest is. Because Seth created Roman and he can destroy him.
Roman says this is a waste of his time, Seth is a waste of his time. Roman says Seth "looks and sounds like a clown because he is a clown"
Rollins doesn’t have the star power that he has, he won’t reach Roman’s levels and if he was looking for a megastar, he wouldn’t have chosen Seth from Raw. Seth wouldn’t have been the one he would have chosen from his own household. If he wanted to main event the Royal Rumble with a megastar, he would have chosen his wife, The Man, Becky Lynch, also known as Big Time Becks.
In true, villainous Reigns fashion, The Usos sneak up on Rollins from Behinds, but he manages to move put opf the way and out of the ring.
They go after Seth as he escapes. Rollins gets one more in-your-face moment with Reigns before escaping from the clutches of the trio up the ramp.
Worst Act of The Week: Hulk Hogan for ridiculous claim that COVID vaccines killed Betty White, Bob Saget and Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier. The WWE Hall of Famer has fallen quite a ways from his glory days as the greatest wrestler ever. He's no longer even Top 10, which is as follows: 1. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin; 2. The Rock; 3. Rick Flair; 4. The Undertaker; 5. John Cena; 6. Shawn Michaels; 7. Bret Hart; 8. Triple H; 9. Sting; 10. Bruno Sammartino...
Top 10 Men Rankings:
1. Roman Reigns, WWE Smackdown Universal champion;
2. Brock Lesnar, WWE Raw champion;
3. Seth Rollins, WWE Raw
4. Drew McIntyre, WWE Raw;
5. Hangman Adam Page, AEW World champion;
6. AEW TNT Champion Cody Rhodes;
6. Bryan Danielson, AEW;
7. Randy Orton, WWE Raw;
8. Bronn Breakker, NXT WWE champion;
9. Moose, Impact world champion;
10. Edge, WWE Raw...
Top 10 Women's Rankings:
1. Becky Lynch, WWE Raw Women's champion;
2. Charlotte Flair, WWE Smackdown Women's champion;
3. Britt Baker, AEW women's champion;
4. Hikaru Shida, AEW;
5. Liv Morgan, WWE Raw;
6. Bianca Bellair, WWE Raw;
7. Deu Drop, WWE Raw;
8. Mickie James, Impact Knockout Women's champion;
9. Sasha Banks, WWE Smackdown;
10. Shawna Bayzler, WWE Smackdown...
Frederick has been a WWE fan going back to the early 1970s when it was the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Among Frederick's 9 journalism-industry awards in 2021 was his coverage of Wrestlemania.
About the Byline Writer: Henry Frederick is a member of the working press and publisher of Headline Surfer, the award-winning 24/7 internet news outlet launched in 2008, that serves greater Daytona Beach, Sanford & Orlando from Lake Mary, Florida via HeadlineSurfer.com. Frederick has amassed close to 150 award-winning bylines in print & online. He earned his Master of Arts in New Media Journalism from Full Sail University in 2019. He was a breaking news reporter (metro cops & courts beat) for the Daytona Beach News-Journal for nearly a decade. And Before that worked the same beat for The Journal-News/Gannett Suburban Newspapers in Rockland/Westchester counties, NY, dating back to 1989. Having witnessed the execution of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Florida's death chamber and covering other high profile cases, Frederick has appeared on national crime documentary shows on Discovery ID, Reelz, and the Oxygen Network series "Snapped" for his analysis. • Award-Winning Journalism: Florida Press Club recognizes Headline Surfer for nine stories in 2020 statewide competition. • Award-Winning Journalism of Henry Frederick.