SmackDown

It’s a fantastic idea for WWE to emphasize the unity by keeping The New Day together throughout Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship reign. It simply doesn’t feel right for the brothers to split at this point, and it also brings in a fresh narrative to WWE since virtually all tag teams/factions break up after a decent amount of time (take Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannety in the ’90s, for example, or The Shield as the most recent example).

Speaking of their segment, Dolph Ziggler is doing a beautiful job of playing a character who is bitter about the past and it cannot let go. It is blatantly obvious, however, that Dolph will not be winning the WWE Championship this weekend because his character is placing far too much importance on winning. He is obsessed with the end goal and putting it up on a pedestal rather than focusing on the process (like Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers), decreasing importance, and seeing it as natural for him to be WWE Champion.

For example, Seth Rollins became Universal Champion by decreasing the importance of it and simply enjoying the process of being intercontinental Champion and also being Monday Night Rollins (same thing with Kofi Kingston).

I love analyzing WWE storylines from a psychological perspective (it was the original major I chose for college before I switched to Sports Marketing). Dolph is easy to analyze from this perspective, and my theory is because he has an interest in stand-up comedy and many comedians are very deep and introspective people. If you don’t believe me, just do a YouTube search on Jim Carrey.

It probably will not happen, but it would be a massive surprise and shortly give SmackDown a huge jump in ratings if Brock Lesnar were to show up unannounced on SD Live one of these weeks for the first time in many years to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. In my mind, this would greatly benefit WWE both from a television perspective and a business perspective.

Alexa Bliss and Bayley both emanated a palpable feeling that they were both speaking from the heart (see, Bayley can do it with a little help and guidance), and Alexa obviously used her character’s signature negative and manipulative slant to justify the fact that she uses relationships with others to get ahead in life. The trademark of her character is being an energy vampire who preys on sucking the life force out of other people to serve her own inner intentions.

I have heard nothing but great things about Lexi Kaufman as a human being, but Alexa Bliss embodies these qualities perfectly. These ideas are based on the book Reality Transurfing by the Russian quantum physicist Vadim Zeland. Another story currently going on in WWE that has to do with the ideas expressed in this book is the story with Bray Wyatt, who is using the methods of a destructive fear-based pendulum to further his own career. I won’t go into further detail about these concepts because they are a bit confusing. You can read the book if you want like.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have a great dynamic on-screen and friendship off-screen. They clearly need each other, and neither one would be with WWE without the other. Kevin Owens piggybacked off Zayn to get started in NXT because Zayn was signed first, so he got an earlier jump. Kevin Owens, however, was promoted to the main roster first and Zayn piggybacked off him when he got promoted. Both of these men have gotten mutual benefit out of this relationship both personally and professionally. The careers of these two men will clearly forever be intertwined, and the WWE universe is invested in their relationship and cannot wait to see how it plays out over time.

There is no way I can be the only one who feels that it would be extremely profitable for WWE to capitalize on the engagement between Andrade and Charlotte Flair by making them a power couple similar to what WWE did in the late 90s with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H.

One person WWE would unfortunately need to get rid of to make this work is Zelina Vega. Maybe Andrade could start an on-screen affair with Flair. WWE would not need to release Vega but simply affiliate her with a different storyline.

Side Note: The 24/7 Title is a bit unnecessary (as I have stated before, a TV Title might be more appropriate that is defended each week on TV, either Raw or SmackDown, but never on pay-per-views), but R-Truth provides great comic relief during shows. He lost his title to Drake Maverik, Oh Jeez!

And I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m looking more forward to Roman Reigns – Drew McIntyre than Reigns – Shane.

A Hell in a Cell match between Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler for the WWE championship would be a nice change of pace for two reasons. The first is simply that a Steel Cage match took place at Money in the Bank last month between Shane McMahon and The Miz, so it would just be nice for the WWE universe to see some variety being used.

The second reason this would be nice is that it would add more of a surprise factor. For the past 10 years, WWE has made it so that Hell in a Cell matches have only taken place at the HIAC pay-per-view. It worked well from the genesis of this structure in 2002 until 2009 when important rivalries between superstars always seemed to culminate inside Hell in a Cell as opposed to having them only take place once a year.

The exact same thing seems to be going on between Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross as the storyline that transpired about two years ago between Alexa and Nia Jax (speaking of her, let’s all wish her the absolute best in her recovery from injury).

WWE seems to be recycling old storylines rather than choosing a new one in this scenario. Shane McMahon is also being featured far too much as a centerpiece of WWE programming, as much if not more than Roman Reigns, who did not even appear on SmackDown. Shane simply does not possess the magnetic quality which his father obviously had. This seems to be hurting the company because they have a plethora of superstars on the roster who are far more talented than Shane at this point and deserve an opportunity to show what they can do.

Side Note: I stand corrected about the tag team division. Daniel Bryan and Rowan, as well as Heavy Machinery, are very entertaining. I have absolutely no idea what that dance Otis does is supposed to be, but it adds a tremendous amount of comic relief.

Lars Sullivan and Alexa Bliss stood out most to me this week, even though they both appeared on the “B” show SmackDown Live (for now, I’m assuming that it will be presented as the flagship show starting in October of this here when it switches networks to Fox).

WWE, to be honest, has always given Alexa Bliss favorable treatment since she debuted on the main roster nearly the three years ago. Maybe they feel somewhat bad that they discounted her abilities to a degree in NXT, because she never even had a Takeover match. It can’t be argued, however, that she has absolutely proven herself as a five-time women’s champion (with an opportunity to make it six). She may even wind up winning the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Bayley, since Bayley does not seem like a long-term champion. It is absolutely nothing against her, but she just isn’t quite as powerful as Alexa.

It’s been almost a year since Alexa, who was originally slightly favored to win the Money in the Bank contract based on prior booking, was champion (she lost the Raw Women’s Championship to Ronda Rousey at SummerSlam last year), and she also won the same title from Bayley at Payback in April 2017. This would also be a great way for her to come out of her concussion issues which have largely kept her out of action since September 2018. These concussion issues are slightly concerning though given how young she is (only 27 years old). Corey Graves also has to be losing it.

Lars Sullivan was also quite impressive last week. He is surprisingly very good on the mic (much better than Festus, better known as Luke Gallows now, or Snitsky, which is more the level of skill that was expected, at least by me). He should have a squash match at Super Showdown against Lucha House Party and continue his dominance. After this, however, he should look to enter a rivalry with a top-level superstar, maybe even someone like Roman Reigns, after Roman’s pointless and boring feud with Shane McMahon, which by the way is wasting all the momentum Drew McIntyre had coming out of WrestleMania.

SmackDown was paced significantly better than Raw this week, as is the case most weeks, primarily because WWE already has Monday Night Raw off of which to build for the week. One actually felt like they could catch their breath between segments. The show started off exactly the way it should start off every week, with the WWE Champion. Kofi Kingston and Kevin Owens had a match that means really nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it was entertaining, nonetheless.

One also has to feel for Drew McIntyre and Elias to some extent because they are both talented superstars with real potential, but they are both being belittled by the roles they are currently undertaking for Shane McMahon’s benefit. This is quite frankly a waste of both men’s talents which is a shame because most people are fully aware of just how talented they are. All we can do, however, is hope that WWE realizes this and quickly shifts the storyline of both men to something more redeeming, like going after a title.

It will be very good to see Aleister Black resurface again soon on the main roster. He definitely has the capability to provide some entertaining matches. Anyone who tells you that Super Showdown will be a WrestleMania caliber event is telling a lie. WWE tried to position the last Saudi Arabia event the same way, but it did not in any way feel like a WrestleMania. In fairness, this year’s event has a better card than last year’s event. The best memory from last year might be Titus O’Neill falling underneath the ring during the Greatest Royal Rumble match.

Side Note: What is wrong with Otis? Daniel Bryan is trying to cut a brilliant promo about earthquakes in Oklahoma only to be interrupted by Heavy Machinery and Otis’ violent hip thrusting. So funny! He makes Big E look normal.

Just so everyone is aware, I will be writing about NXT Takeover: XXV (it’s unbelievable that this is already the 25^th Takeover. I can vividly remember the first one five years ago, with Sami Zayn and Cesaro having what was, in my opinion, the best match.) But I won’t be posting anything next week because I will be on vacation. I will be writing again however starting on June 10.

It’s great to see Dolph Ziggler resurfacing after a few months off, courtesy of a rather brutal attack on Kofi Kingston. Dolph claims it should have been him winning the WWE Championship. I stand corrected – because now there are two matches that garner interest based on history at Super Showdown.

Andrade also had a beautiful match with Ali. It’s very hard not to appreciate these two after one sees, for about two minutes, what these future champions are capable of in the ring. The roster is full of guys like Ricochet, and WWE is extremely fortunate to have right now what is probably its most talented roster ever. From this perspective, it’s a shame that the creative team is struggling this much to create good stories and make good on the fact that there is this much talent. They did not struggle like this in the Attitude Era with less talent

Vince McMahon has been featuring the women in the less prominent roles the last few weeks, surely in an attempt to increase viewership and attention on the product. What he doesn’t realize is that the women are not the problem, it’s the creative team’s lack of good storytelling. Perhaps some new people need to be hired to bring in some fresh ideas.

My God Daniel Bryan cut a great promo, and he showed why at Money in the Bank, hinting that there are major changes coming to the tag team division and that’s Vince McMahon would like for tag teams to be taken seriously as opposed to being more of a fun novelty act. Maybe this change will increase TV viewership with Daniel Bryan and Rowan spearheading this proverbial injection of legitimacy back into the tag team division.

All I have to say about Becky Two Belts is she’s going to get an excellent night of sleep on Sunday night. She will most likely lose one of her titles and keep the other. My bet is that she will lose the SmackDown Women’s Championship to Charlotte Flair (and she will become a nine-time Women’s Champion) and retain the Raw Women’s Championship against Lacey Evans. Evans simply isn’t ready and is too inexperienced to become a champion so early in her career.

With Flair on the other hand, there is never a bad time to make her champion. It will also make the storyline with Becky Lynch more interesting if her edgy and somewhat cocky mentality gets the best of her and costs her one of her titles.

This will be a major test for Elias this weekend at Money in the Bank when he goes one on one with Roman Reigns. Elias has only been tested to this degree once in his career. It was a pay-per-view and that was at Money in the Bank last year when he had a match with Seth Rollins (Rollins won and was able to hold onto his intercontinental Championship, but Elias showed that he could hold his own in the ring with one of the best in the world). Vince McMahon will be able to find out this weekend if he is indeed the real deal.

Kofi Kingston has to be awfully tired after defending his title again tonight. That guy must have a ridiculous amount of endurance because last night’s match was probably better than Monday, which was incredibly good. It’s great to see some fresh faces in the WWE Championship scene, notably Sami Zayn.

Sami appears to be quickly coming into his own and rising to major superstardom, both with the push he is receiving and the authenticity with which he is delivering his promos combined with the fantastic matches he puts on. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him hit three Blue Thunder Bomb’s in the same match.

Another great thing to see is new SmackDown Tag Team Champions in Daniel Bryan and Rowan. Let’s be honest, The Usos were probably featured on the show simply in attempt to combat the weak SmackDown Tag Team division because it does not have very many teams. WWE also seems to be trying to turn Shane McMahon into a carbon copy of his father. The creative team should potentially look to come up with a more creative idea rather than simply recycling what has worked in the past.

It will be beneficial for WWE to only use the Wild Card Rule every once in a while, otherwise superstars may get burned out physically. This is a tiring load for them to carry. It also would not feel like a very big deal if it’s done all the time. It can be used every few weeks but definitely not every week.

The remaining four participants in the men’s and women’s Money in the Bank ladder matches were announced and some intriguing scenarios are sure to play out at the event on May 19. On the women’s side, the four that will be included in the match will be Bayley, Mandy Rose, Carmella, and Ember Moon. Corey Graves has been put in a pickle since his two favorites, Alexa Bliss and Mandy Rose, are both in this match. Ember Moon is my own personal pick to grab the victory.

The remaining participants for the men will be Ali, Randy Orton, Andrade, and Finn Balor. Balor has the highest likelihood of these four to win the contract, as he may be in the early stages of a large push very similar to the one Seth Rollins began receiving towards the beginning of last year which culminated at WrestleMania when he won the Universal Championship. It’s doubtful that even his momentum will be able to overcome the dollar signs Vince McMahon sees painted all over Drew McIntyre. Andrade and Ali don’t have enough momentum yet, and it feels like Randy Orton is in the same boat as Natalya when he was placed in this match because of the work he has done.

Kevin Owens is also fitting perfectly into the top heel role on SmackDown Live in to make up for the absence of Daniel Bryan. People in the company probably had a feeling that he could do it, but now he is finally getting the opportunity to prove that he can carry a show and have the top storyline revolve around him.

The news about Jeff Hardy’s bad knee is heartbreaking. WWE will suffer a huge blow since he will officially be out for 6-9 months. Because of this, the Hardy Boyz must obviously relinquish the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. Lars Sullivan is a freak, and this is a good way for him to get over as a heel. As far as I am concerned, R-Truth was a casualty.

WWE badly needs to pull the trigger with Bray Wyatt quickly before the gimmick gets stale. Gimmicks such as his have a history of not lasting. Fans get enthralled with it for a couple of weeks, then grow tired of it because they realize the stupidity. WWE could get a title run or two for Wyatt, but they need to strike while the iron is hot.

It’s no surprise at all to see Roman Reigns getting a victory over the B-Team but it’s always good to see him in action because there is a brilliant level of fluidity to his movements.

Are you serious, bro (Zack Ryder, Raw Tag Team Champion)? It is absolutely genius of Vince McMahon to come up with the idea to have Kevin Owens stab The New Day in the back by superkicking Kofi Kingston and by all assumptions becoming the next challenger for the WWE Championship. It’s a very smart business decision on the part of management because KO is more than capable in the ring, and in hindsight, who else was going to challenge Kingston? It can’t hurt that he’s a great heel, too.

Becky Lynch is also owed a massive amount of respect for being willing to defend both of her titles at Money in the Bank, because quite frankly, that is a ton of work and most superstars might have the endurance but certainly not the work ethic to do something like that. Corey Graves is so negative about her chances to retain both belts, but I cannot fault him because I think he is great. It’s amazing how he portrays such a stoic and professional personality while saying the most hilarious comments.

Going back to the women, it was expected that Charlotte Flair would be awarded the opportunity to challenge Becky Lynch for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at Money in the Bank. Bayley is showing an increase in intensity that is very admirable in this profession and may serve to get her more universally cheered again by fans. A future title opportunity may very well be in store for her if she keeps this up. It might be due to the possibility of Sasha Banks leaving the company, and Bayley’s apprehension and uncertainty about that is being outwardly expressed through this newfound aggression, or I may just be overthinking it.

I cannot even begin to describe how thrilled I, and I’m assuming the entire WWE universe, is for Roman Reigns to be officially getting back into the swing of things as far as his career goes by beginning a brand-new year in WWE. He will begin the year by facing Elias at Money in the Bank, with a very plausible situation being possible of Shane McMahon getting involved.

Aleister Black is developing a very cryptic and dark persona in the early days of his singles push, and it could not suit him better. The guy has future WWE Champion written all over him as I have stated before. He may have slightly more success on the main roster than Ricochet, however I think both men will be successful and probably win multiple titles.

Lars Sullivan will surely have a large amount of success due to the way he has been pushed in his first couple weeks on the main roster. It also can’t hurt that Vince McMahon historically loves big men.

Kevin Owens, or Big O, did an amazing job filling in for Big E as an honorary member of The New Day. It made perfect sense to pick him, at least for this week, since WWE was in Canada, but he might be able to do it permanently at least until Big E returns. Big E tore his meniscus and is expected to be out for at least six weeks.

Finn Balor should have no problem fitting in on SmackDown Live since they focus so much more on in-ring work. He is obviously one of the best in the world in the ring.

Samoa Joe was not able to appear on Raw or SmackDown this week due to a combination of illness and travel issues, but there is about a 95% chance that he moves to Raw upon his return with the Intercontinental Champion switching brands.

It’s not good for business if WWE features two Midcard champions on one show and none on the other, which is WWE’s flagship show, so expect him to move to Raw with Braun Strowman probably being his first target. Check out the Bleacher Report’s – WWE: 99 Midcard Superstars Who Helped Make the Legends what they are Today.

Andrade can’t get screwed out of a title match with Finn Balor, just because Balor switched brands so he may have to work on both brands for at least a short time.

I don’t think anyone is certain about the future of Lars Sullivan, although I feel he and his big red diaper should be featured on SmackDown. Maybe he will be featured on both brands for a short time too. He is sure to dominate wherever he goes because Vince McMahon undoubtedly loves big men.

A barrage of new women debuted last night, which should add a lot of depth to the women’s division. It appears to be growing at a good pace. The most notable acquisitions were Bayley, Kairi Sane, and Ember Moon. Becky Lynch and The IIconics will presumably be featured on both brands since they have championships which are advertised to be featured regularly on both shows

Buddy Murphy will be the third man from the cruiserweight division and 205 Live to be brought up to the main roster. He will do some good things and probably win at least the United States Championship sooner rather than later. Even when he was an NXT Tag Team Champion with Wesley Blake, I always had a feeling he may become the bigger star of the two primarily because he has a more distinctive look.

I mean no disrespect to Elias, but Roman Reigns is clearly the biggest acquisition in SmackDown history who Vince McMahon was referring to. Roman Reigns should help to boost SmackDown ratings when they moved to FOX this October. This could freshen up his character and gave him the freedom to add some new wrinkles to his persona. However, it looks like the possibility of a Samoan Shield with The Usos is dead for the time being. I never expected WWE to do it now, but I was hopeful. Vince should explore this before they retire considering they are about the same age and they seem to be a close family.

Side Note: Let’s pray Daniel Bryan is not only in good health since we have not seen him on WWE TV since WrestleMania but that he develops an epic rivalry with Roman Reigns.

Some “Amazing” Things

• That Kofi Kingston can somehow be taken seriously as WWE Champion while maintaining his full commitment to the New Day.
• That pancakes, Bootyo’s, and twerking are accepted and beloved in WWE. I never thought I’d live to see it. I am made fun of constantly by my brother for loving the New Day, and the worst part is – he is three years younger than me.

The Shield should also be mentioned because the WWE network is premiering a special about The Shield’s final chapter this Sunday. It’s scary, yet inspirational, to conceive that Roman Reigns faces an ever-present possibility of his illness returning and will have to receive oral chemotherapy for the rest of his life, as was talked about in part two of the WWE Chronicle about Reigns and his illness.