SmackDown Gets the Hell in a Cell Message...

Happy Friday, Enthusiasts!

 

I hope it’s treating you well. So, there are a few things to chat about this time around. Let’s get right into it.

 

I’ll start with Stephanie McMahon’s leave of absence first since the Naomi and Sasha Banks situation lends a lot of speculation. Stephanie taking a break, however, can be seen as a long time coming. Though, I doubt she has the most taxing schedule. I get the feeling she could pretty much come and go as she pleased but that doesn’t mean that she hasn’t been doing that consistently over the past 20 years. Moreover, with the kids breaching the teenage years and Triple H’s health questionable, it may just be a good time to head on home and take care of the more important things in life. I doubt anyone can really blame her. We’ll see if she ever comes back. Though that’s wholly her prerogative, I’m also pretty sure WWE will carry on with or without her. Let her take all the time that she needs.

 

Okay, onto the Naomi/Banks situation. To be honest, this is reading like a work to me though Naomi walking out on contract negotiations is compelling. I’ve always liked Naomi but I don’t know if she’s really in a position to stall a contract negotiation unless the terms were insulting. Like, actually insulting. I’m not sure what her current deal is but if she was pitched something about the same or lower, I could understand her standing up for her worth. Though I wouldn’t consider her matches “must-see”, she has proven herself over time and deserves to be compensated according to her long-term status. I don’t have anything against fighting for what you’re worth in any profession. It must be done from time to time. A company like WWE can definitely take a person for granted.

 

Yet if she’s holding out for 7 figures or something, then I hope it’s a work just for her sake. She doesn’t want to be in a position where she could be laughed at. This is kinda why I think it is a work. With Jimmy Uso allegedly alluding to her joining The Bloodline, this could be the punk move to start it off. They let people think she’s tossing back offers. Saying, I don’t like that.! Let my crew come through and settle this. Don’t you know who I roll with. That sort of thing I can see and I can see that being a lot of fun for all of them too. They can just strut around in their deluded sense of importance. I’m down if they can sell it.

 

Right now, it’s all hush-hush. Neither Naomi or Banks are being considered for shows at the moment which makes me think they should crash one or at least, Banks should. She, on the other hand, has enough clout to hold out. She also has enough clout to decide on alliances and given how she’s going big with Naomi, could this be more of an indication that she’s aligning with The Bloodline too? I don’t hate the idea. But the faction has to become more of a pain in the general ass if so. They need to bully Management for matches and do what they can to weight matches in their favor. You know, they need to do shit that pisses people off. Build some heat for Faces to get their panties in a bunch over. Makes beating them all the more fun. We’ll see what they do.

 

In the meantime, the slow build to Hell in a Cell continues with tonight’s SmackDown. The Usos and RKBro will finally have that Unification Match for the Tag Team Championship. Ronda Rousey will see who else wants to challenge her for the Women’s Title and we’ll see whatever else they got going to keep us interested. I’m sure they’ll dance around the Naomi/Banks business and have up-and-comers vying to take their place. I won’t complain if they don’t give me anything to complain about. Funny tweets and Likes get retweeted. We’re currently in No Man’s Land so don’t try too hard out there. Just sit back and see if they make the most of things.

 

 

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)