WWE SmackDown recap & reactions (Oct. 8, 2021): Pride before the fall

This week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown emanated from San Jose. Get a complete look at the show with the live blog right here.

Remember roughly one month ago when Seth Rollins and Edge went to war at Madison Square Garden and the end result of it was Rollins putting Edge away with the Curb Stomp? My read on that at the time was that it was a very well executed match with an incredible story that culminated in Edge, having come to terms with just how far away from his original goals he had gone, and just how much he’d lost in doing so, having to accept his fate.

And he did that. He accepted it, knowing it might very well be the end.

But it wasn’t.

I wondered where they could possibly go from there, and it turns out they had the right idea with this story all along. Rollins should have let it go there, because of course he should have, because he won. In war, victory is all that matters. History is written by the winners and all that.

But that’s not what happened. Rollins, of course, wanted more. He wanted not just the painfully obvious physical admission of defeat but the verbal equivalent. The defeat itself was not enough, he needed to revel in his opponent’s demise. Savor it. Examine the wound and twist the knife a little more.

When Edge didn’t bite, at least not initially, Rollins did what he was always going to do, what he’s always done before — he took it too far. He involved the Copeland family, breaking into Edge’s home and making snide remarks about his wife and children. At the time, I didn’t like that story beat, mostly due to how impossible it is to execute in the right way on a pro wrestling show, but it’s improved with the benefit of hindsight.

Rollins was back this week to continue rubbing it in and demanding Edge come back around. He offered up whatever stipulation Edge wanted, continued running him down at the expense of his family, all of it. Then, the man himself showed up, rushed the ring, unleashed a vicious assault with all the markings of the evil Edge we’d known before, the one who goes to that dark place, and then he made clear what stipulation he wanted.

Hell in a Cell.

Rollins’ response to this made clear what all of this was about. He was shocked, yes, but he also looked scared. The smug confidence that had him acting these ways, and saying these things, was replaced by fear; of what he unleashed, of what was bearing down on him, at his inability to escape from it.

Pride comes before the fall.

The best part? It’s deserved. And that is the key to all of this. Going to the depths of your own darkness to exact revenge on a man over a title is losing yourself. A title, as much as it may mean competitively speaking, is still just a physical representation of an achievement.

But family? Family is everything. Going to the depths of your own darkness to defend your family is righteous. In terms of storytelling, Rollins’ going after Edge’s family essentially gives the latter carte blanche to do as he pleases, in terms of audience acceptance. It’s why they had Iosef kill John Wick’s dog, the same dog his wife left for…