{"id":220971,"date":"2026-08-17T12:04:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=220971"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:04:48","slug":"parkss-take-noting-how-well-the-chelsea-green-nick-aldis-gunther-segment-worked-and-why-it-should-be-a-template-for-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/17\/parkss-take-noting-how-well-the-chelsea-green-nick-aldis-gunther-segment-worked-and-why-it-should-be-a-template-for-more\/","title":{"rendered":"PARKS&#8217;S TAKE: Noting how well the Chelsea Green-Nick Aldis-Gunther segment worked and why it should be a template for more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1604245570\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>The opening segment of Smackdown this past Friday has garnered almost universal praise in all corners of the internet, a rare feat for something from WWE programming these days.<\/p>\n<p>I concur with the sentiment that it was one of the best segments WWE has put on in a while. I mulled over what about it in particular worked for me before I finally realized it had to do with the fans in the arena. They were invested, emotionally, in what was happening because the characters were acting in a believable, relatable manner. It was clear who was the sympathetic character and who wasn&#8217;t. The crowd in the arena wasn&#8217;t just mindlessly reacting to catchphrases or verbal cues. They LIKE Chelsea Green so they WANTED her to stay champion.<\/p>\n<p>But they were conflicted: They understood where Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis was coming from. Aldis&#8217;s track record as GM has been one that calls it down the middle. Fans know he&#8217;s not there to be a jerk and take the title from Green just because. His performance against Gunther at Summerslam and the introduction of his family into the post-match scene allowed fans to be even more torn here, especially when Green brought that up in her promo.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Smackdown: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/wwe-smackdown-post-show-8-14-keller-barnett-talk-latest-punk-owens-gripe-fest-pulling-from-their-past-chelsea-cody-orton-more--74034462\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cwade keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN POST-SHOW (8\/14) - Keller &amp; Barnett talk latest Punk-Owens gripe-fest pulling from their past, Chelsea, Cody-Orton, more\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=74034462&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Then there was Gunther, the mean jerk bully who doesn&#8217;t have an ounce of likability in him. Even if he backdoors into making a good point, it&#8217;s HOW he makes that point that rubs people the wrong way. There were no shades of gray here, no questioning anyone&#8217;s motives. It was clear-cut and the fans responded accordingly. Hopefully WWE was listening as they continue to trek forward in this era where segments &#8211; and characters &#8211; like this are becoming more and more rare.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Read Greg Parks&#8217;s feature-length weekly columns in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/govip\/\">PWTorch Newsletter with a paper copy subscription or online VIP membership<\/a>. He also reads his feature columns for his VIP-exclusive &#8220;Greg Parks Outloud!&#8221; podcast. He has contributed to PWTorch for over two decades.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (8\/14) - WWE Smackdown w\/Keller &amp; Barnett\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6RAjVewEBcQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2100834317\"><div id=\"pwtor-2740571402\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The opening segment of Smackdown this past Friday has garnered almost universal praise in all corners of the internet, a rare feat for something from WWE programming these days. I concur with the sentiment that <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/08\/17\/parkss-take-noting-how-well-the-chelsea-green-nick-aldis-gunther-segment-worked-and-why-it-should-be-a-template-for-more\/\" title=\"PARKS&#8217;S TAKE: Noting how well the Chelsea Green-Nick Aldis-Gunther segment worked and why it should be a template for more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,57,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-takes_parks","category-opinion_stafftakes"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-17-at-12.01.48-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220973,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220971\/revisions\/220973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}