I’m still really happy from last week that John Cena gave his blessing to Sami Zayn for him to start his own United States Championship open challenge, because his match tonight against Rey Fenix absolutely ruled. I thought it was exactly what an open challenge match should have been, fast-paced, fun, and exciting. I wouldn’t be upset if Zayn’s challenge opened a few episodes of “SmackDown” in a row, or at least, like tonight, be the first match of the night. They tried their best to set the pace and tone of the night with the match, and while the rest of “SmackDown” couldn’t quite keep up in most places, they tried their hardest and I really enjoyed it.

While both men are babyfaces, I thought this worked extremely well tonight with them showing respect to each other backstage, but not holding back when it came to the actual match. While I know WWE isn’t going to take the gold off Zayn this quickly, or hopefully anytime soon until his character is ready to challenge for a world championship, Fenix got so many near-falls it was crazy. Zayn did an excellent job of kicking out at the last minute, and it made Fenix look really, really good. Of course, Fenix did a lot of the looking good on his own. He dodged two Blue Thunder Bombs and hit a wicked DDT off the second.

Later on in the night, we also found out who Zayn’s next challenger will be, and it’s absolutely a right choice. Carmelo Hayes said he’s got next in a backstage segment with Zayn, and the champion told him “he better not miss.” While, again, I don’t expect WWE to take the belt off Zayn, and while I love Hayes and wish he’d finally get some singles gold, or at least a little main roster singles success, this does help him, win or lose, because I’m assuming (or really just hoping, I guess) that this helps get him away from The Miz. 

“The A-Lister” wasn’t too happy with his tag team partner backstage when he figured out Hayes challenged Zayn, and I just really need this whole “Melo Don’t Miz” thing to be over. Between Hayes wrestling in the open challenge and Miz and Hayes likely going for the tag team championships and losing, I’m crossing my fingers I get my wish sooner rather than later. Even if I don’t, Zayn continuing on with this open challenge is likely to be my favorite thing on “SmackDown” over the next however many weeks, and it’s something to look forward to.

Written by Daisy Ruth