SmackDown Just Has to Stay Solid...

Good Evening to You, Enthusiasts!

How is Friday treating you?  Are you ready to close up shop for the night?  Well, before you do all that, let’s go over this week’s action before we get into tonight’s SmackDown.  So, before we get into the “big” news lets dissect this Lana Saga just a little.  We all keep speculating as to why the WWE decided to go with such an atrocious angle and to be honest, all I can come up with is punishment.

For whatever reason, they just can’t nail how to sell Bobby Lashley but when it comes to Lana and Rusev, the bulk of us know that they’ve been going a bit rogue for a while and I don’t blame them.  Rusev Day was over with the crowd and Creative just didn’t roll with it.  Can’t even say why, it was no better or worse than what they were doing.   So, Rusev & Lana started doing their own thing on YouTube.   Might as well, but something about this demonstration might have been too outside of WWE’s jurisdiction.   You’ve noticed how Lana has dropped her accent quite unceremoniously.  Get the feeling they weren’t in character for these shorts and little inconsistencies like that can affect storylines which may have led to this possible, minor rift but it comes off petty if this is the case.  I read that Rusev was the one who offered up and enjoys this affair angle with Bobby Lashley and who knows, if that’s true, he may have had good intentions.  Maybe it was supposed to help Lashley out by giving him something to do but unfortunately, they don’t have the comedic chops to make this work on TV.   This just leads to the question of why put everyone through it?  Is this just a wrestling rite of passage?  You must suffer through your shit segment from time to time.  I guess it happens.  The Fiend at Hell in a Cell could be indicative of that but, with the landscape changing as it is content is going to be key.  It always has been but when you’re the only game in town, everyone comes to play anyway.  Now that there are options, putting out crap has to serve a purpose.  It’s either supposed to be that way so they can dog it later or they want someone to subversively suffer…if they’re smart, they’ll make it a little bit of both. 

The other news, you all know is that CM Punk has made a return to the WWE over at WWE Backstage.  I’m not that much of an enthusiast so, I doubt I’ll ever watch this show but I am kinda glad that Punk is back.  Ideally, I would hope they could goad him into a match here and there but I remember reading that he’s basically done with actually wrestling.  His idea of wrestling bliss seemed a little…niche to me, similar to like a Fight Club sort of vibe…not sure who would really be interested in watching it on TV but in the basement of some dive bar maybe.  Who knows, maybe this will provide an opening for AJ Lee.  They still have little ones to box with in the Ladies Division.  Her brand of crazy might shake things up…give a counter to Nikki Cross maybe?  Lee could be the OG.

I’ll omit the Jordan Myles departure because that seemed like a forgone conclusion.  As much as it’s important to continue to promote awareness and inclusivity, this whole issue seemed misunderstood and mishandled.  The WWE is, more than likely, no more or less racist than society at large.  Some may be more aware than others but what it all basically comes down to is that racism is bad for business, to the likes of them; they don’t have to know why.   Knowing that it catches a bad rap is enough.  They may have tone deaf moments from time to time, but those aren’t going to last long.  Read into it anyway you like.

So, as for tonight’s action on SmackDown, looks like Daniel Bryan will make an appearance on MizTV and the New Day will box with the Revival for the Tag Team Titles, I think it’s a rematch.  Everything else we’ll have to wait and see.  I’m okay with that.  Funny tweets get retweeted and as for Likes/Favorites well, the Go-Home Shows are next week so they should be stirring the pot a bit but we shouldn’t be boiling just yet, need to bring it to a simmer first.

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)