Does SmackDown Have a Rare Miss? - Royal Rumble Fallout...

 Good Evening, Enthusiasts.

Hope you’re having a great Friday. So, there are some rumblings in the wrestling world. Let’s get into some of it, shall we.

Let’s start with the non-WWE rumors. Tony Khan announced on social media that he has some announcements set for tonight’s Rampage. With many former WWE stars’ non-compete clauses expiring this week, the thought is that he’ll be announcing the acquisitions. We’ll see if this helps AEW or gives them more problems. Many fear they’ll start making the same mistakes WWE did by overloading the roster and not having enough for everyone to do. We’ll soon see if they took any notes on what not to do.

To straddle the 2 worlds, Brian Kendrick asked for his release from WWE. The request was granted with no non-compete clause. He jumped to AEW only to get himself canceled by old shit circulating online. Well, let that be a lesson. Cancel Culture is real and if you said some questionable shit and it’s still up, don’t be surprised if it comes back around to bite you. It’s real easy to check someone out. Make sure people can vet you in a way that can keep your mind at ease. Dump those old posts and clear out old photos. Only display what you want exposed.

On that note, Mustafa Ali is still being held hostage. Word is that there’s at least a year left on his contract and WWE may just let him wait it out. I don’t know what the thought process is here. I don’t mind WWE being a Heel company but that only works if it’s on TV. In real life, they leave themselves subject to ridicule and investigation. Again, if the prime directive is to make a profit, WWE doesn’t need this kind of bad press. Hopefully, they either let him go or it becomes clear this is some sort of work. I’m not sure in the latter case it’s appreciated. People are showing honest support for Ali. For it all to be some sort of ploy may turn some people off even more. Like I keep saying. WWE has to get savvier. Not everyone is going to read into it that much. And more importantly, people are more likely to believe what they hear even though the whole thing is immersed in kayfabe. That’s where it gets slippery. People may take things seriously that are intended to be mild goading. Fucking with the people may go over their heads and then WWE tanks itself for no good reason. It’s clear they want to do what they want but that only works if what they’re doing works. It does some of the time but I wouldn’t say it’s 50-50. It’s more like 40-60. They need to work towards a 75-25 split at the very least. Then they can have a misfire or 2. Nowadays, we’re surprised if they get it right. They can’t stay in their bubble. It’ll become too clear they’re the only ones there.

Now, they seem to be aware of the problems. Given the definite swing and miss with this year’s Royal Rumble they were quick to make “corrections” as they let Shane McMahon go, of all people, due to the fiasco. Most people scoff at this because it’s kinda obvious this is a placation that amounts to nothing really because he’s not officially on the payroll. There are stories that Shane didn’t like getting shot down but naturally, most of us aren’t buying it. This is the sort of thing I’m getting at. A company that wants to stay in the black, legally anyway, doesn’t want this sort of bad press. Again, there’s more badmouthing than praise going around. That kinda shoots down the thoughts of a sale in my opinion. People think they’re off-loading to make the company more attractive but press like this is like a bad inspection review on a house. That’s fodder to negotiate a lower price. We all know they want to make a killing. Don’t expect any real sale talk until their mess is cleaned up. 

All that said, back to WWE’s mess, they appear to be heaping more on to haul away as they bring out Goldberg again to finish out his contract. He appears to be WWE’s offering to Saudi Arabia but to be honest, I’m not sure their fanbase fully appreciates Goldberg. The bulk of them seem too young to remember his reign. They were probably just born in a lot of cases. To be fair, his last match actually wasn’t bad and if he and Roman Reigns ─ he’s gonna face Roman Reigns by the way ─ can have fun with it, they could surprise people but of course, we don’t expect this. 

In any case that brings us to tonight’s SmackDown. Early reports aren’t promising which is a bit disheartening since SmackDown tends to be the more respectable show. RAW did what it could to salvage the Rumble and it wasn’t half bad this week. We’ve definitely sat through worse shows. I’ll have to see for myself if it’s as bad as people say it is. Aside from Goldberg being confirmed, Ronda Rousey is supposed to show up to choose her challenger for WrestleMania. Word is Big E is back with the New Day and Paul Heyman will explain why he does what he does. Funny tweets and Likes get retweeted. I don’t blame you if you decide to pass. All I say is make sure you’re thinking for yourself. A lot of onlookers misread what they’re seeing. Not to say it’s the best to look at but oftentimes it may not be as bad as it seems. Never be ashamed to take a look at things for yourself.

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)