Raw and Smackdown Live have always had dark matches that happen when the show goes off the air, where babyfaces always beat the heels to send the crowd home happy.
Last night on Raw, John Cena and AJ Styles were supposed to appear for the dark match, but they didn't show up. It is unclear as to why they did not appear if they were advertised since there is a legal obligation, but the show instead ended with Seth Rollins confused over what had transpired in the WWE Universal Championship Fatal Four Way match.
However, tonight on Smackdown Live after the show went off the air, there was a tag team dark match that took place between John Cena and Roman Reigns against Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins. John Cena has not appeared on Smackdown Live television since after Summerslam, and it was clear before hand that he would not be appearing for a while since he is filming the second season of American Grit. However, it is being said that he will be appearing in dark matches and have a few other non-televised appearances.
The finish of the match saw Roman Reigns spearing Seth Rollins to clinch the victory for his team.
Please click on next to follow the video highlights of the match:
It is being said that the interbrand apperances in dark matches will be ending very soon and this monday was probably the start of it. It is not known yet whether the Raw stars advertised will stop appearing from next week’s Smackdown, but what is known as of now is that from September, they will start splitting the house show tours into Raw and Smackdown shows.
Before the brand split, they were split into “A” and “B” house shows, with Roman Reigns leading the “A” shows and Dean Ambrose leading the “B” shows. What was interesting was that Dean Ambrose was drawing similar numbers to Reigns despite not being the champion.
This week, for the first time in 4 weeks, Raw has gotten more acclaim than Smackdown Live, which seemingly makes the score 4-2 in Smackdown Live’s favour. This of course, is purely subjective.
Dark matches will most likely now just feature the stars exclusive to the brand. However, these aren’t difference makers at all for fans per say. It just becomes less of a hassle for WWE to send their stars to another city for small appearances.
