SmackDown Mixes It Up a Bit...

Happy Friday, Enthusiasts!

 

The wrestling world has some goings-on but only a few things caught my interest. Let me just touch on a some of those.

 

I’m a little late on this one but recently, Malakai/Aleister Black made some comments regarding his sabbatical. Apparently, he intends to stay with AEW and apparently has received death threats in regards to his possible departure. Now, who in their right mind is threatening to kill over this stuff? Seriously? It’s scripted! What is there to get that pissed about? Talk about stupid shit. Let the man do what he has to do. Besides, if he does decide to leave, we want a WWE return to be a complete surprise. I wouldn’t be surprised he’s denying it just to not ruin it. Leave him be!

 

In the WWE Universe, Seth Rollins sat down for an interview with Ariel Helwani on his YouTube channel show, “Ariel Helwani Meets”. Rollins bemoans being second fiddle in the Roman Reigns Era and I would have to say this is indicative of the wrestling world in general. Like I’ve said, it follows high school thinking. Rollins reads like the smarmy nerd to Reigns’ “hot jock” status. There’s not much he can do about this. People size people up very superficially in this world. Rollins does get his respect though, so he shouldn’t feel too bad about this but if he were to be the “Top Guy”, he’d have to be presented differently and I’m not sure WWE is interested in focusing on him being a conniving schemer. It would fit with his Architect persona but storylines would have to revolve more around how he lays traps and plays angles with the roster and I get the feeling no one really wants to take the time. And even if they did, there’s no guarantee people would gravitate. Reigns does have sex appeal. This sort of thing is difficult to manufacture. You either got it or you don’t. Hopefully, Rollins makes his peace. We all see him out there. We know he’s no slouch.

 

The other bit of news that caught my interest is that it sounds like there are plans for Finn Bálor to get his due. Now, I’ve said what needs to happen with him, but I don’t know if they’ll go there. All I’ll say is whatever they do, the goal is making Bálor a believable threat. The main problem with selling Bálor is the fact that he’s so small compared to most of the roster. How are we supposed to take him seriously? The Dæmon Persona. Yet, it won’t work if they don’t commit. Bálor will have to become believably otherworldly. And when he does invoke the Dæmon, it has to be jaw-dropping. They have to get us wondering how they did the trick. As I’ve suggested before, it should be something along the lines of a stunning reveal. He starts off in plain clothes, there’s a few beats and then he’s “transformed” and in full make-up, right before our eyes. We should be shocked and amazed. He has to be able to believably back guys like Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns up when he walks through and if they don’t conjure some sort of understandable “fear” or intimidation, we won’t buy it. Just saying.

 

And so, that basically brings us to tonight’s SmackDown. It’s the week before the Go-Home Shows so we get some people off the bench to keep themselves screen ready. Hit Row sizes up Los Lotharios since the cousins started shit. MadCap Moss and Ricochet will take on the Bloodline representatives in Solo Sikoa and Sami Zayn. And Shotzi Blackheart gets herself a singles match against Bayley. There may be some switch-ups since Hurricane Ian may have stranded some of the roster in Florida but we will see. Try to have fun out there. Funny tweets will either get Liked or retweeted.

 

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)