SmackDown

The single biggest takeaway from SmackDown Live was the debut of Lars Sullivan. There is a very plausible scenario where Sullivan comes to SmackDown, as well as Braun Strowman since he also made a surprise appearance, and the two of them began a feud of epic proportions, carrying WWE throughout the summer. This could work mainly because WWE is going to have to increase the appeal of SmackDown Live if they are going to successfully make the jump to FOX in October.

This may have indeed been the final week we will see The New Day as a team with the Superstar Shake-Up rapidly approaching, especially since Kofi Kingston is WWE Champion. Big E and Xavier Woods deserve the opportunity to fend for themselves as a tag team.

One thing I’m desperately praying for is that Drew McIntyre is not squandered in terms of booking if he does make the jump to SmackDown Live.

There are also new SmackDown Tag Team Champions in Matt and Jeff Hardy. They have been around for so long that they seem like more of a nostalgia act than anything (the only difference being that they are still young enough to be able to put on a decent match). It has also come to the attention of wrestling fans that AJ Styles was injured at WrestleMania.

Ricochet and Aleister Black won’t be challenging The Revival for the Raw Tag Team Championship after all. They will instead be challenging for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way match, which is a huge mistake if Vince is looking to book them as a strong tag team. A singles match for the Tag Team Championship would be much more conducive for this.

As for The Revival, their future is very much up in the air. I don’t know who they will face at ‘Mania, or if they will face anyone, especially since their future with the company is uncertain.

On a happier note, The Miz is turning out to be a great babyface. No one should have been too worried about this since he is so great on the mic. The Caterpillar from Otis of Heavy Machinery provides great comic relief during the show, and Corey Graves’ reaction to this is hilarious (“This is a family show”).

One other superstar who should get some consideration for a post ‘Mania push is Mustafa Ali. He may be a little smaller than what Vince is used to, but when it comes right down to it who cares? Mandy Rose will also almost certainly receive a major push in the coming year.

Daniel Bryan and Kofi Kingston had their contract signing and took turns cutting passionate promos. Daniel Bryan is proving to be extremely impressive as a heel, and something has awakened in Kofi that I don’t even think he knew he had in him, and it’s a blast to finally see it come to fruition after 11 long years.

Vince McMahon, being the genius that he is, also could have booked this situation exactly the way he did, by having the other two members of The New Day earn a spot in a WWE Championship match for Kofi by winning a Tag Team gauntlet match (brilliant move to have The Usos forfeit out of respect) because of their history with The New Day.

It was also a beautiful thing to watch when Charlotte Flair won the SmackDown Women’s Championship, officially giving her eight Women’s Title reigns which breaks a tie with Trish Stratus. Her next stop is WrestleMania where she will compete for the Raw Women’s Championship. If she does win, she will become the first woman to ever hold both Raw and SmackDown Women’s Championships at the same time. It’s incredibly smart on WWE’s part to capitalize on the talent of Charlotte Flair. An athlete like this only comes around maybe once in a lifetime (maybe even once every other lifetime). She may even have a chance to break her father’s record, and now John Cena’s record too, of 16 World Titles because she has several more years in her WWE career (as Bon Jovi says, she’s “Livin’ On a Prayer”).

The last thing I will discuss is how strange it is seeing The Miz work as a face because he has not ever truly done that, so in all honesty I don’t know how good he is going to be. My first instinct after seeing him this week is that he will be at the very least, decent. One might think he would know how to do this pretty well because he is able to play on the other side of this situation so masterfully.

One huge topic that is absolutely imperative to discuss is the fact that Kofi Kingston, although he did win the gauntlet match, he did not defeat Daniel Bryan. Vince McMahon is trying to make it seem as though he does not want Kofi anywhere near the WWE Championship.

I was legitimately distraught after watching SmackDown and it put a damper on my entire night. This is why Vince McMahon is a billionaire though, because he has figured out how to manipulate the energy of people’s emotions on a grand scale.

On a supplemental note, there are two smaller topics I would like to touch on, the first being with the Women’s Tag Team Titles. I’m not so sure anymore if it will be Beth Phoenix and Natalya challenging Sasha Banks and Bayley. It may be The IIconics, which would be an underwhelming match to say the least (I find them more annoying than anything). They did pin the champions so they could always be added to the match at WrestleMania.

The final topic for SmackDown this week is the fact that a ‘Mania match between Ray Mysterio and Samoa Joe was announced, even though WWE was rather quiet about it. I’m not upset about it at all, in fact it may be very quietly one of the best matches on the WrestleMania card.

On the flip side, putting Mysterio in that role eliminates the possibility of a Joe versus Cena match. As long as he is physically able, Cena has to do something at the biggest show of the year. He has already wrestled The Undertaker, so that only leaves one possibility, and that is him somehow working his way into the retirement match at WrestleMania against Kurt Angle. This would make perfect sense because Cena interrupted none other than Kurt Angle on the first episode of SmackDown on which he ever appeared in 2002. Unfortunately, no one wants to see Baron Corbin versus Kurt Angle at WrestleMania.

It will also be very interesting if Vince elects to include Mysterio’s son in the mix for this match by having him accompany his father to the ring. I have not seen Dominic since SummerSlam 2005 when he was included in the storyline of his father’s against Eddie Guerrero.

The McMahon family may indeed have the heel persona ingrained into their DNA, and Shane is no exception. The feud between Randy Orton and AJ Styles has officially gotten personal. Both men dropped quite a few truths about the others’ career. Orton claimed that while AJ was wrestling for $20 a night, he was winning titles with WWE. AJ claimed on the other hand that one of the only reasons Orton ever got a job with WWE was because of his father. It’s good to see that WWE is trying to make it so that this match actually matters come WrestleMania.

In terms of the Charlotte and Becky thing: it’s not that I don’t like it, it just feels at this point like it’s been done too many times in too short of a time. The match between Charlotte, Becky, and Ronda is still a strong candidate to headline WrestleMania, and I have no problem with that. I’m just a little tired of seeing repetitive exchanges between Charlotte and Becky.

Kofi Kingston can’t get a break. He cut an extremely passionate promo asking Vince what he needed to do to earn a WWE Title opportunity. Vince responded by telling Kofi that he would have to beat Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, The Bar and Rowan in a gauntlet match on SmackDown next week. It’s also kind of ridiculous for Samoa Joe, a “dominant champion,” to be pinned already by Rey Mysterio, which is sure to halt his momentum. He can ill afford this if he may be going into a match with John Cena. I have to say that, from top to bottom, SmackDown has been the better show as opposed to Raw for several months and looks poised to do well once it moves to FOX. The show just has fewer segments that are unwatchable, most likely because there is less time to fill.

It’s encouraging to see Kevin Owens maintaining his heelish tendencies, as cited by him calling the WWE universe a “pretentious jackass.” He is being positioned as the babyface in this feud with Daniel Bryan because Daniel cannot go face after he has been so much of a heel. There’s plenty of reason to be confident in the ability of Kevin Owens to personify a good babyface, as he has mastered this role on the independent scene. It’s great to see Owens strategically incorporating the roots of his WWE character into the new role he is being asked to fulfill.

The next topic is Samoa Joe winning the United States championship. It’s about time WWE pulled the trigger on Joe and put a title on him because they were running out of opportunities with Joe already having been on the main roster for two years and being just a week from turning 40 years old. He absolutely deserves it. Corey Graves has said this, and I completely agree, that he “expected Joe to be in WWE a decade ago.” It will be extremely exciting to see what’s next for the Samoan Submission Machine, especially as WrestleMania rapidly approaches.

One other interesting topic of discussion is the return of the Hardy’s, particularly Matt. While one could’ve easily predicted Jeff’s return at some time, it was unclear as to whether Matt was retired, or not. It’s great to see him, and worth noting that he mentioned he wanted to work with Roman Reigns before retiring.

Side Note: There has got to be a plan in place for Kofi Kingston to challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE title. Can I get an AMEN to that!

First off, it’s great news for Kevin Owens to be getting a WWE title match as the first opportunity he gets following his return from injury. How can one help though not to have their heart go out to Kofi Kingston. This is a massive blow to not only Kofi but the entire New Day. This is not at all an indictment on Kevin Owens – it’s a statement of how everyone in the WWE universe is going to resonate and feel for Kofi Kingston. Vince McMahon surely orchestrated this on purpose to incite an emotional response from the crowd. Maybe he will elect to give Kofi a championship match down the road in the coming months.

It is doubtful that Kevin Owens will wind up facing Daniel Bryan for the WWE title at WrestleMania (it may be John Cena), but it’s encouraging to see Vince pushing him again as a legitimate title contender. A couple other matches to potentially look forward to at WrestleMania are AJ Styles and Randy Orton as well as Rey Mysterio vs Andrade. The latter may be one to keep an eye out for because it has the potential to steal the show, even though it is destined not to be a very publicized match.

It also needs to be noted that Kevin Owens became the first superstar that I’ve seen since Stone Cold Steve Austin to beat an opponent with a Stunner. Tom Phillips’ commentary was great when he said, “Oh Hell Yeah”. I am extremely impressed with Kevin Owens’ new demeanor in the ring as well as backstage in his interview. He seems extremely focused and confident, and I think Vince is attracted to that. He is clearly focused on his wife and two kids as the primary priority. Kevin looks like he is very healthy stage of his life after having five months at home with his wife and kids. He has reconnected with what is most important in his life.

SmackDown Live this week was arguably better than Raw. They need to up their game if they are going to be moving to Fox in eight short months. The NXT guys who were just recently brought up really add a new element to WWE TV, specifically Aleister Black. Everything about him screams future WWE champion. Every one of the NXT guys who debuted is a future champion, but if you ask me, Black is head and shoulders above them all. We got another visit from God’s greatest creation Mandy Rose. I did not, however, expect for her to pin the champion Asuka, but in hindsight it was a great idea. Mandy is extremely over right now.

Lastly, I need to talk about Kofi Kingston again. I about lost it with sheer excitement when Kofi became the number one contender for the WWE title at Fastlane. No one deserves it more than he does at this point. Another added benefit to this is that The New Day can be involved to deal with Rowan to add another element of interest to the feud.

From SmackDown Live, the performance from Kofi Kingston was absolutely incredible. That reminded me of a Flair or Steamboat type of performance, or if you want to go back in more recent history, it reminded me of the performance from Seth Rollins just last year in a gauntlet match right around this time. Seth pinned Roman Reigns and John Cena that night. But going back to Kofi, he lasted for over an hour last night and that match is unprecedented in today’s terms. It’s impressive any night when you pin Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy, and Samoa Joe.

I want to also take a second to mention that backbreaker that AJ Styles delivered to Kofi out of that STO. It has to be the most vicious looking backbreaker I have ever seen. I really hope that Kofi Kingston gets an opportunity to become WWE champion before he retires, because he’s done everything else there is to do. I’m not sad at all for Mustafa Ali being taken out of the Elimination Chamber for two reasons:

1. WWE will push him hard when he returns as he has proven to be a great performer, and
2. Kofi’s performance on SmackDown Live was extremely well-received by fans.

The other guy who I hope eventually gets that opportunity is Cesaro, but that’s a different topic to be talked about at a different time. I am extremely sad for Mustafa Ali having to be pulled out of this weekend’s Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, but on the flip side I’m not that sad for him because this injury will probably begin a big feud for him upon his return with Randy Orton.

But back to my main point, Kofi Kingston is a massively underrated superstar and WWE should recognize and be fully appreciative to him for the talent they have right now. I appreciate great wrestling and the flow to it, and Kofi is a valuable commodity in that regard. I can’t wait to see what Kofi does at Elimination Chamber. We may also see the return of Bray Wyatt after nearly a year off TV. He’s been healthy for several months, but I assume WWE creative simply hasn’t had anything for him.

Two things really stood out to me from SmackDown Live. First of all, Triple H did an unbelievable job of significantly twisting the narrative of Becky Lynch’s Royal Rumble victory by claiming that she was afraid of what Ronda Rousey would do to her at WrestleMania. This makes total sense that WWE would elect to portray the story in this way because this is exactly the way Vince McMahon views the Millennial generation, as he told Steve Austin in 2014 on the Stone Cold podcast. He views Millennials as being too afraid of failure to reach up and grab the “brass ring,” and Triple H is doing a fantastic job of making Vince’s viewpoint come to life. The second thing has to do with Daniel Bryan and his intellectual peer Rowan. The new Daniel Bryan is excellent on the mic. Much of his message is fact, but he can be a jerk at times about the way he presents it. I also finally think I figured out why WWE decided to pair the planet’s champion with Rowan. I kind of forgot that, about four years ago, Bryan was a member of the Wyatt Family for a short time, and Rowan was in the Family. I am also very excited for WWE’s move of SmackDown Live to Fox in October of this year. This will be great for the growth of the company, as Fox Sports is rapidly gaining more and more traction as a credible sports network.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about Daniel Bryan’s promo from a couple weeks ago. He was discussing generational politics, and he’s right about a lot of it. He claimed that the baby boomers suck away the earth’s resources while giving nothing back. It was an excellent promo. I’m not going to get into politics (even though I do have my opinions), because that is not the primary goal of this blog. If it was, I would have gone the political route right from the beginning. I really don’t like to get into politics that much because it’s a muddy pool to swim in, so to quote Forrest Gump, “That’s all I’ve got to say about that.”