Three Things We Hate and Three Things We Loved

Tonight’s show was largely covered by news of the talent cut that came out just before “Smackdown” aired. WWE is known for releasing stars during the show recently by the Blue brand, but today the news began leaking a little earlier and it started to completely distract. Back to local news, I called this a stereotypical “Friday News Dump.” WWE can go out on weekends without worry, but they don’t even release this news themselves in a post-pandemic world. Authorities could also hope that the news will be blown over the weekend, but that’s not the case with the IWC. And honestly, it shouldn’t just be blown away because many of these releases are upset.

There wasn’t anything big enough on this show tonight to distract me from the release. That’s why I’m sure many people are scrolling and interacting on social media, watching a variety of live streams. Tonight’s advertised main event first happened on the show, with the actual main event being thrown “Can they coexist?!” Tag team match.

I bet a fair amount of the creative team, but at least the writers didn’t know that the release was planned, but “Smackdown” wasn’t a good show overall tonight. Some of us here realized that WWE didn’t release the “SmackDown” star tonight, so it’s nerve-wracking to move forward over the weekend. I hope WWE releases people. All those who have been let go can get back on their feet and achieve everything else they want to do.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Over much of the beginning of this year, the US title appears to be held at Nakamurajima and Lanite’s waists, running a seemingly eternal booking cycle. As someone who really enjoys Jacob Fatu’s work, I certainly feel that has changed since he entered the fold and won the title.

There’s a seemingly inevitable division between Fatu and Solo Sikoa, but I’m sure Backlash will be a chaotic four-sided side between “Samoan Werewolf,” Drew McIntyre, Damien Priest and Knight. Was it built in the best way? not much. However, it cannot be ignored that the competition competitors convey a sense of legitimacy towards the title. Because if this is a WWE world title match, none of these names are really out of place.

The method presented during “Smackdown” also ticked all the boxes, with Sikoa playing a silver tongue and Fatu trying to ensure a single match with McIntyre. Unfortunately, Nick Aldis raised stakes here and there at the time, with the inclusion of priests and knights in the match, with Cicor’s grievances in great detail. Fatu welcomed the challenge all of them by doing what was expected of him by now, but after he left, Sicoa turns around and accused Ardis of trying to mess him up. Aldis simply replied, “No, it’s you.” It is not yet clear that Sikore is planning a FATU. Whether it has anything to do with McIntyre, he wants to play the game. But at the same time, it’s really exhilarating that the subplot develops around the US title and gives it a bit of credibility.

Written by Max Everett

High flight, fast pace, and good ring chemistry between enemies? You can’t ask for more in a match. If you want this proof in living colours, you don’t need to look for more than the contest between Pretty Deadly and Fraxiom.

Given that there was actually no major storyline heading into this match, it seemed like a way for WWE to give Nathan Fraser and Axiom another victory as WWE continues to set up “Smackdown”, two men, Elton Prince and Kit Wilson as a tag team with another person and a banger attached. All four men used the television time given to play a memorable match for fans for quite some time, proving that a storyline is not necessarily necessary to get fans’ investment in what’s going on between the ropes. It reminded me of how good the tag team division of “Smackdown” is, and proved that Frazer and Axiom are currently unsatisfied with fit for all the others.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I’m pleased that after this match, Aleister Black and Carmelo Hayes had a bit of stare at the middle of the ring, but I don’t think it was necessarily the right call to make Miz all the people’s blackface in his big return match. I was confused this past week, but the Black rebut in WWE was to suspend Miz’s whimsical promotion that was overlooked and not on the WrestleMania card, which was disappointing when the match was announced.

There was nothing necessarily wrong with the match, and Miz is always a good and safe worker in the ring, but something feels like this. I don’t think you’ve always seen the main event scene or anything right away, but perhaps it’s not the US championship scene or adjacent location? I certainly didn’t see him debut towards the bottom of the midcard against Miz. His debut was hyped and set up with various video teasers and was revealed in advance for “Smackdown” after Wrestle Mania.

My biggest problem with this comes from the fact that I absolutely hate Carmelo Hayes being paired with Miz. But if he had to, why wasn’t Hayes Black’s first opponent during his comeback? Miz would have worked better in this side job to make Hayes star shine black. A 3-hour “Smackdown” never stops me from complaining. I really didn’t do anything this week. I think this is largely due to almost constant news of talent reductions throughout the show, but I already don’t care about black. If, as he often says, his reports are underutilized personally, it could be a problem.

Written by Daisy Ruth

On the night when several women were released from WWE contracts with a few women from the midcard scene on the main roster, Zelina Vega and Piper Niven proved how important it is to actually have midcards in the women’s division, rather than focusing solely on the main event scene and top titles.

This match was a refreshing change of pace with a 3-hour show that was relatively old, excited and boring. Not only was it a fun watch, it also effectively exploited the mistakes of wrestling errors and didn’t overdo it with interference from Chelsea Green or the outside Alba Fire. Green also brought a comedy element to the match as she lamented her title outside, but still managed to overdo it and take away from what’s going on inside the ring. The match also worked to keep Vega looking strong as a female US champion. This becomes even more common when you consider that she only holds the title for about a week.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

On Friday night, I liked a lot from the top of the “Smackdown’s” women’s category. Tiffany Stratton is rolling with new confidence after mic doolling Charlotte Flair for two months, and somehow managed to be her at WrestleMania, making this the perfect time to end her feud with Nia Jax with a fight-filled Stratton victory. Meanwhile, Naomi continues to do the absolute best work of her career at Mike, but Jade Cargill is basically back to the big deal she felt like this last year. It appears that all the pieces are placed. That’s why I’m very confused about how WWE builds the puzzle.

It was bad enough when the promotional segment between the four women finished Teddy Longstyle when Nick Ardis stuck them in a tag team match. It’s a lazy booking, but it’s almost unpleasant. But things got weird when next week’s episode was randomly announced before a tag match that featured Cargill vs. Jacks, with the No. 1 competitor match for the title of Stratton. Naomi is just… not involved, apparently. And yes, Naomi was tall at the end of “SmackDown,” so I think she’ll somehow get involved, but doing this would only telegraph it to the point of absurdity. do not have Involved, it’s even more strange. Because why is she part of this storyline? Naomi didn’t even pinned Cargill in the Tag match, but Jax did (that wasn’t important as the number one competitor’s match was announced before the Tag match). This is a completely odd way to set up what is probably throwing Naomi for a 3-way contender match or the title four-way, or for a few reasons. Naomi was the best part of the entire division since her heels turned. To exclude her from the No. 1 competitor match is rude regardless of the (purely theoretical, perhaps still bad) narrative reasoning.

Written by Miles Schneiderman