SmackDown Takes Its Time When in No Man's Land...

 Happy Friday, Enthusiasts.

Tis the start of the first 3-day weekend of 2022 and the wrestling world isn’t exactly bustling but there is plenty of movement. Let’s see what’s going on.

So, outside of WWE, Wardlow made it quite clear that he has no intentions of working for WWE. If the Gods are willing, he’ll be with AEW for life. I don’t find that entirely surprising but at the same time, I wonder if the sentiment lasts. The thing about WWE, regardless of how you feel, it is the next level. From there, it is literally the world. The point I’m making is that Wardlow’s viewpoint may be shortsighted unless he’s at peace with his lot. If he doesn’t need more in terms of fame and fortune, go ahead and grow in more personal directions. Who am I to say what’s best for the man? 

This means that WWE will have to focus on others. Though I felt Wardlow would be a perfect WWE addition, there are others that should return or debut at some point. For me, I feel the same few should return: PAC, Aleister Black and Miro/Rusev more or less in that order. PAC is simply too good for AEW. Black needs the production values to truly sell his gimmick and Rusev is simply WWE manufactured. Let’s not lie. He kinda seems out of place at AEW but he has to eat just like everyone else. I know this won’t happen tomorrow and maybe never but if I’m one of these parties or WWE, I would be considering it. At this point, it’s more about where you’re best utilized.

Now, many would say that WWE is never the place to go if you expect to be used to your full potential but that is changing. That’s what all these releases are about. Just by looking at these moves, I would conjecture that WWE finally realized that they weren’t getting anywhere. I think they were a little unnecessarily proud. They survived other threats and changes in society and perhaps began to rest too much on their “laurels” in the past decade or 2. Didn’t want to listen to fans ‘cause they made it doing it their way before, why would that stop working? Well, the crowd is not static. You don’t have the same people each week it’s the same type of people each week and with WWE’s content being somewhat short-sighted, those who do or began to come around regularly started to catch wise. They effectively bored the audience in recent years and it’s clear they don’t know how to correct the trend. 

This is why I keep saying this is a revolution of necessity. They just ran out of road. So now, they’re trying to pave a new one and no one’s sure how it’s going to look. That doesn’t make them very appealing because a performer could get axed just because Management is still figuring it out. Given these uncertain times, the lack of job security isn’t very comforting. Whether they mean to or not, WWE is prompting the world to rethink a wrestling dream. Especially since the standard currently seems like it doesn’t know what it’s doing. Naturally, if they had the answers, the product would be better, wouldn’t it? We can now safely assume they don’t have them.

In terms of NXT, no matter how streamlined the product, they face a stateside truth, no one watches the Minor Leagues. The stagnant ratings proved it and that isn’t Triple H’s fault. Think about it? Who do you know who watches AAA or AA ball, especially in the big city? That’s small town fare. That’s all they got. Maybe diehard fans too but that is a niche market. We all know WWE is about the lowest common denominator. They should view this as the experiment it was and it confirmed what many of us already knew. 

Yet, never fear! They do have the motivation of profit. And so, we can all also believe that this state of affairs won’t last. That’s why it’s changing. The numbers weren’t lying and they are now dredging the sinking ship. When it comes to NXT, I wouldn’t have rebranded per se but would have reimagined how the show is presented. Since no one watches the Minor Leagues, I wouldn’t expect anyone to. I wouldn’t have them on cable television. I’d keep them on a YouTube channel. The fanatics could have their fill and they wouldn’t have to really limit their content. It could gain its own following online. I would put Main Event back on cable and give it 2 hours so that they could do more with the main roster. I would make it more of a “stone polisher” show. The midcarders could develop here and build on their characters so that they could be given meatier angles on RAW and SmackDown at some point. It could also serve as a launching pad of sorts for the NXT kids to see if they work on cable/streaming as opposed to just online. That’s what I’d do.

The other place we know WWE is trying to make that money is with Saudi Arabia. There’s ancient money there so I don’t blame them yet, they have to be careful. Word is that a second annual Arabian PPV may turn into the new Elimination Chamber and I would advise caution in this advance. The main reason being the Saudi crowd. Take a look at it. Look at some of the past shows. It’s primarily children and young adults. It’s clear WWE isn’t taken too seriously there. It’s like Disneyland or Universal Studios or something, some flashy American fare. The Elimination Chamber may not be the right PPV theme for that. It’s usually held with some “gravitas” and to present it there under these pretenses lessens the show. Clash of Champions is probably better. It goes more with the “Crown Jewel” theme. There’s a faux sense of prestige that is easy to impress upon the youth. It’s less likely to lose clout in the states. But that’s just my 2¢.

Okay, so that’s what caught my attention in the past few days. For tonight’s SmackDown, it could be interesting. With Xavier Woods injured, WWE is forced to make do with who’s around. So, impromptu #1 Contender Tag Team match it is. The illustrious Lita is to make an appearance and we must have Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins stoke the Shield tinged fires of their feud. Of course, this is just another chapter in a much more involved saga (^_~) In the meantime, funny tweets get retweeted as well as Likes. We’re halfway to the Royal Rumble, kids. Just sit back and see if they make it interesting.

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)