SmackDown Is Making Sure All the Ingredients are Mise en Place for Clash at the Castle

A Happy Friday to You, Enthusiasts!

 

Well, AEW has been throwing a bunch of pebbles in the pond and causing all sorts of ripples in the wrestling world. Let’s chat a little bit about it before heading over to the WWE Universe.

 

So, the big news is that AEW unified their titles and quite quickly under Jon Moxley.  He faced CM Punk in a match that I can basically call a bait and switch. Moxley and Punk were sold as the main event but they actually went on second to last and the match played out as an  injury induced squash. It started off strong and looked to be a good intense one but then Punk got “injured” and Mox took over from there.

 

Speculations are flying about what this could implicate. Is this the beginning of a Heel Turn for Punk? Was he cleared for competition too soon? Does he plan to return to WWE now that Triple H is in charge? Well, we can safely assume that whatever the plan is, it was decided and is in effect. We could ponder more about what’s going on if the match was actually the main event but seeing how it was penultimate, some decision to go with Mox was made prior to the show. To what end remains to be seen. Maybe Punk really wasn’t ready. Maybe he is going to return to WWE. Maybe it is to stoke the fires for a searing Heel Turn. Whatever the case, we will have to wait and see if the action lives up to the “hype”.

 

Apparently after this week’s Dynamite, Mox continued to rant passionately against WWE. He apparently doesn’t buy the changes and probably feels vindicated for leaving. Yet, personally, I hope he returns to it someday. Now, it’s clear that won’t be happening too soon but who knows. If H can steer things into more engaging territory, which he appears to be doing, the idea may sweeten over time. I’m glad that Mox can explore himself with AEW, but I don’t know if it really…challenges him, so to speak. Like I keep saying, it appears to enable his less savory traits and I’m not sure that’s a good thing. Not that he has to really “clean up” for WWE but it does require a sort of polish. Mox appears to be reveling in his rough edges. I don’t really see him becoming a better performer. He may have more freedom but it’s hard to gauge his improvement. Given what commenters are saying, they’re not impressed so we’ll see what happens. No matter how anyone feels, no one can really bitch about a good performance or consistency. We’ll see if he at least gives himself the challenge of bettering himself.

 

There’s also some rumblings that WWE is “tampering” with AEW wrestlers but…I don’t know about all that. I don’t blame them for sniffing around amidst all the talk of backstage angst, but I don’t know if that equates to tampering. It seems to me that AEW is feeling a bit bored with themselves. I don’t think I ever recalled so much pissy news about them in such a short amount of time. Sounds like the true colors are showing over there or that’s what they want everyone to think. Well, if it leads to something interesting all power to them. But if it’s just panties in bunches they need to get over themselves. Their ratings alone show that not that many people care.

 

So, that more or less brings us to tonight’s SmackDown. It looks like the final logistical pieces are being put in place for Clash at the Castle. Go Home Week is next week so we should get our final pushes then. Tonight, the ladies are going to start to set the final for the Women's Tag Team Championship. Ricochet may get some airtime against Baron Corbin and looks like Sami Zayn will continue to “endear” himself to The Bloodline. You don’t have to talk shit but I’ll still promote a funny tweet. Let’s see who has what out there.

 

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)