SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
So, when I get mad I make a fist. I grab my pen and I write out a list. Of all the wrestling stuff that hit and missed. Let’s see who’s made the WWE Smackdown Hitlist for the May 1st, 2020 episode on Fox.
HITS
•Daniel Bryan: The five-time WWE Heavyweight Champion is an authentic man for an inauthentic age. This helps Bryan get away with some of the ridiculous material he is asked to deliver. Daniel actually had me believing that after headlining WrestleMania in the Superdome, he is excited about the prospect of fighting a ladder match in an empty office building. That’s a promo.
•Sonya Deville: Nice mic work from the former cage fighter tonight, and she did good old fashioned beating of Mandy Rose that didn’t run too long.. If Disney ever does purchase WWE, they can go ahead and name her Cruella Deville.
•Otis vs. Ziggler: The match was a little long, but the right wrestler won this time. When you have a show with the bad guys dominating every interaction, it is important to close out with a positive moment. Otis adds a little something to the Money In The Bank match. Plus, Ziggler will probably show up on the pay-per-view somehow.
•Sheamus vs. Leon Ruff: Short enhancement matches are more fun than long ones. Matches like these are actually perfect for quarantine shows. You don’t have to worry about upsetting the live crowds, because there aren’t any live crowds. This is a good example of what a squash match should look like.
MISSES
•WWE Performance Center: When your core product is losing viewers, the last thing you want to do is emulate the look the AWA had in 1990. Nice entranceway, nice lighting, no audience.
•Firefly Firehouse: Bray Wyatt’s goofy promo segments caught on because they had the right blend of silliness, surrealism and menace. Once you establish a recurring bit like that, and make it popular, you have to remember why it caught on in the first place. Tonight’s bit wasn’t funny and wasn’t fun. The only thing that could have redeemed it would have been Steve Ryan showing up as J. Walter Weatherman to end the segment by yelling “And that’s why you always leave a note!”
•King Corbin: The good news is, Baron Corbin’s character comes across as a legitimate jerk. The bad news, there’s nothing else to the character. Jerry Lawler always acted like he was royalty, even if it was Memphis wrestling royalty. Baron Corbin was a better name. “King Corbin” sounds like the least popular malt liquor at the local ABC store.
•Sheamus vs. Michael Cole: Any heat WWE could have gained by having Sheamus harass a popular wrestling announcer has been used up due to the dozens of times wrestlers have abused announcers on WWE television over the past twenty years. Nobody cares.
•Wesley Blake, Steve Cutler, Jaxson Ryker: The newest Smackdown tag team act needs to be beating enhancement wrestlers and working their way up to face The New Day. They’re perfectly okay from a technical standpoint, but they’re bland. Right now, they’re the Forgettable Sons. (Or the Sons of Apathy. Your choice.)
Always nice to read a piece by McNeill. Never, ever disappoints.