SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
CODY RHODES-RANDY ORTON SEGMENT – HIT
This finally felt like there was an actual direction between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. For me, it’s already better than the WrestleMania build. The idea that Orton knows exactly how horrible he can be, while Cody has a line he won’t cross, is a really interesting distinction between the two and one that has hints of Cody maybe doing something drastically different soon?
Orton wasn’t pretending he was suddenly some dastardly heel who expected everyone to boo him. The crowd likes Randy Orton. They are going to continue liking Randy Orton. Working with that, rather than fighting against it, immediately makes everything feel more natural. Orton knows this, having been around so long.
Nick Aldis’s threat to remove both men from WWE Title contention if they touched each other was a logical GM move, too, and once again, Aldis comes across as an authority figure who actually wants his show to function properly rather than somebody whose sole purpose is to create problems. Long may this continue.
Cody’s final line about being the one to kill the Legend Killer was intriguing. There are certainly hints being dropped about where Cody could eventually be heading. Everyone picked up on that Paul Heyman spoiler line, right? I’m not completely convinced they will pull the trigger, but the prospect is now more apparent than it ever has been. If anything would take attention away from AEW All In (and that’s how they think), it’s a Cody Rhodes heel turn a week later. Intriguing.
TAMA TONGA & TALLA TONGA vs. DAMIAN PRIEST & R-TRUTH – HIT
See, this is already better.
Last week I couldn’t give the WWE Tag Team Title match a hit when it barely went seven minutes. This week they were given longer, the champions retained cleanly enough, and the belts were actually presented like something worth fighting over.
That is progress.
Tama & Talla Tonga aren’t suddenly going to turn the tag division into the hottest thing on SmackDown by themselves, but they look and feel like an actual tag team; Haku gives them some additional credibility as they lean into the new age Faces of Fear, and this was a decent first defense. With an intriguing team next in line to challenge in Shijsuke Nakamura & Kyoki, the tag scene is finally seeming like less of an afterthought.
It makes so much sense to give the division some extra juice; the number of underused or never-used single acts that could be repackaged into teams could make this division thrive.
I also liked the little moment with Damien Priest looking frustrated with R-Truth after the loss before eventually hugging him. If this is the beginning of Priest moving away from Truth and back towards something more substantial as a singles wrestler, I’m all for it. A heel turn looks likely, and R-Truth is the perfect wrestler to turn on to garner crowd heat.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Smackdown: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
BLAKE MONROE vs. GIULIA – MISS
I liked Blake Monroe’s promo before this. She was arrogant, obnoxious, insulted Toronto in old-school style, and carried herself as if she believed this match was beneath her. That part worked.
Then the match didn’t happen.
We have seen wrestlers attack their opponents before the bell approximately 400,000 times in WWE. Sometimes the referee checks on them; sometimes there is a delay; and most times the bell rings and the heel is allowed to take advantage. Here, Blake attacked Giulia, hit her finish, walked away, and apparently that was that.
It didn’t make Blake look massively bad, and the attack itself was good, but it made the whole situation feel just odd. You could see the crowd waiting for the match to start.
Blake has something. I’m interested in seeing her properly get going on SmackDown. This just wasn’t the best way to introduce her. Again.
TRICK WILLIAMS/LIL YACHTY/BARON CORBIN SEGMENT – MISS
I continue to be aghast at Lil Yachty upstaging Trick Williams.
Now, Baron Corbin turning down another match with Trick Williams actually made complete sense. He beat him. Then he beat him again. Why should he give Trick another championship opportunity?
And then Lil Yachty hit him with Trick’s weapon, and somehow this led to Corbin agreeing to another title match if Yachty could survive five minutes with him. All about Yachty.
Right.
Celebrity involvement can work in wrestling, obviously. But the fans really don’t care about Yachty; they care about Trick, and it’s no coincidence that when he was red hot after first debuting on SmackDown, he was red hot by himself. He has cooled down a few notches since the link-up with Yachty, no doubt.
The upside is that Corbin feels more important than he did when he returned. They clearly want beating him to mean something. I just wish they would decide who they are building him up for instead of finding increasingly dumb ways to keep Yachty involved and Trick Williams attached to him.
TIFFANY STRATTON vs. LASH LEGEND – HIT
Short, but I liked what they accomplished.
Lash Legend getting a clean win over Tiffany Stratton gives her some credibility on SmackDown. Tiffany being less than 100 percent gives her an excuse without completely taking the win away from Lash, so that worked.
The more interesting part, though, was Chelsea Green.
This is now two weeks in a row where Chelsea has been presented as someone we are supposed to genuinely care about rather than simply laugh at. Last week Tiffany came to her aid; this week Chelsea, despite not being medically cleared, came running out with a kendo stick to save Tiffany. And extra praise for running in those 45 inch heels.
Simple babyface behavior. Funny how well that works.
I said last week that it looked like they were heading towards Tiffany eventually turning on Chelsea, and I still think that is where this goes. If so, they are doing a nice job of making Chelsea increasingly sympathetic before it happens.
As for Lash, hopefully this is the start of something. No other female roster member looks like her. It’s time she was built up and positioned as a legitimate future threat to Rhea Ripley. Giving her dominating wins will help with this. I don’t think she needs to be a second to Nia Jax any longer.
SHINSUKE NAKAMURA/KYOKI VIGNETTE – HIT
This was barmy, and I loved it!
Short and effective. Shinsuke Nakamura’s introduction of Kyoki immediately lends the latter some importance, and they make complete sense together.
There isn’t much more to analyze yet, but SmackDown badly needs tag teams, and this is an interesting one. Please actually do something with them.
CM PUNK vs. KEVIN OWENS – WWE UNDISPUTED TITLE MATCH – HIT
After all the talking, all the references to their history, and all the questions about whether they could translate that tension into a match, they absolutely did. What a match!
This felt heated from the start. Owens wrestling in Canada obviously helped tremendously, but Punk leaning into the hostile crowd was excellent. The subtle heel-like bumps, the little bits of arrogance, soaking in the boos – this was great stuff and so refreshing to see a crowd favor one wrestler conclusively.
Funny how that works too.
The match was excellent. Stiff and intense from the start, it looked truly hard-hitting and produced some genuinely convincing near-falls. After being out so long Kevin Owens looked great, and they worked such a smart match. The near fall after Owens hit the Stunner was a masterclass from Punk on a late kick-out, one of the best I’ve seen.
There will obviously be backlash to the finish; this match being on SmackDown and not a PLE telegraphed what we were likely going to get. And giving two such big stars just a couple of weeks to build the match also set off warning signals for me. I am actually okay with the way it worked out. Adding Sami Zayn to the mix will provide extra material to possibly stretch this to the Money In The Bank PLE, and the dynamics between the three in the build should make for great viewing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The main event delivered, the tag titles received more time than last week, and there are some interesting pieces moving around underneath the WWE Title picture with multiple challengers declaring interest.
There were still things that didn’t work – Blake/Giulia was strangely executed, and I have absolutely no desire to see Lil Yachty become the deciding factor in the U.S. Title picture – but overall this felt like a show with more direction.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.