SmackDown Plays with Presentation for Bad Blood...

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?

 

Enjoying your Friday? I’m about to start. So, there are a few rumblings at the end of this week. Gives us something to talk about for sure. You ready to get into it? Let’s do it.

 

We’ll start in the Realm of AEW because they seem to be evolving before our eyes at the moment. But before we get into that, the big news is that there are reports that Miro/Rusev has requested his release from AEW. Haven’t seen or heard much of him recently and I wasn’t sure if that was due to him being injured or whatever but it appears he feels he’s going to waste. Could we see the return of “Rusev Day” in the WWE Universe? Most commenters would welcome it and I wouldn’t mind it either.

 

I’m glad Miro got a taste of the world outside of the WWE Universe but he always seemed better suited for it. Hopefully, he has confirmed that sentiment. I would like to see him return, Lana too. But in the event that they return, they’ll have to decide to either keep or chuck the accents. The whole reason Rusev got booted was because he was breaking character/kayfabe. Perhaps, if he returns, he could be called Rusev Miro and become some amalgamation. He’s got a sense of humor so he could lean into it and just have fun and destroy fools of course 😉 We’ll see what happens.

 

Elsewhere in AEW, Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan gave praise to Swerve Strickland in a recent interview. He was very diplomatic in his reasoning as to why WWE passed on him. I think I basically nailed it on the head with one of my recent posts but I’m sure there were other factors as well. He’s not all that big of a guy and he doesn’t seem to be the most charismatic though it is nice to see he can articulate when he chooses to. WWE likes performers who show you right from the drop what they bring to the table. Strickland is more a “slow burn” type. You come to appreciate him over time. Not sure the WWE audience want to give it to him. We like it when people put the place on blast. That’s why Jacob Fatu is figuring it out without saying much. He comes through, levels the place out, pops up and says, “WHAT!” We get that sort of display. Respect it. Not sure that’s how Strickland rolls but as I’ve said, he’s a solid wrestler and getting the right kind of attention at present so who knows. Maybe in the future they can try again.

 

The final bit of AEW news goes to the update on Jon Moxley’s “manifesto”. He and his wrecking crew took it upon themselves to smash Isiah Kassidy’s hand of Private Party. Sounds like they may shakedown Wheeler Yuta for defecting next. They’re doing what you’d expect, kicking ass and taking names and so far, I don’t have a problem with it.

 

The tone of the promos kinda reminded me of a time back during the SHIELD days. Back in 2018, they were starting to do their Singles runs and Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins were chasing titles. I think Dean Ambrose was out from an injury or something and had just returned to action and I was kicking around what they should do with him. I suggested Ambrose going “more SHIELD”. His brothers lost the plot. They’re dazzled by “glory” with chasing those titles when it’s really about showing up, kicking ass and leaving the chips to fall where they may. Who needs a title when everyone already knows you’re no joke?

 

As history stands, that didn’t happen and Ambrose eventually bounced to AEW to become Jon Moxley. Perhaps this is a chance to tap into that sensibility. It appears I read him right and with the Blackpool Combat Club citing “The Greater Good” there’s clearly, or at least there ought to be, some sort of philosophy or credo that he’s adhering to. Good manipulation plays upon a person’s sense of importance and/or integrity. The manipulator makes another feel they aren’t measuring up or are failing. It makes the manipulated pause and consider if the manipulator is right.

 

When it comes to Yuta, I don’t think they should expect him back, especially if Mox is “smashing fingers”. I get the feeling Yuta is better off backing Danielson when he gets back. But what I’m really getting at is that that “line” has to be minded again. A good manipulator prompts that pause for thought.  Is this person right? Does this person make a good point? What Mox has to figure is how much sense is he gonna make. I’m all for “fighting for the cause” but how does smashing fingers figure? From what I heard, it sounds like Private Party is a bunch of lame slackers who seem to be trying to make a living at sucking. Go fix your fingers and think about life….Okay, I don’t mind it. Show that you’re adhering to this “philosophy”. If you’re not going to bring your best don’t bother and take that home with you for wasting everyone’s time. Properly applied, others can see and respect the point. Go overboard and he just lost his damn mind…which could happen too but you know with an endgame in sight, not just to fuck shit up.  Good luck to them. There’s promise here.

 

And so, let’s head over to the WWE Universe. There’s more administrative news over here as with RAW going over to Netflix there’s talk that it’ll be shortened to 2 hours yet they will be commercial free. To accommodate USA, word is SmackDown will be lengthened to 3 hours. We’ll see how that works out because of it being Friday night. On one hand, it makes sense because most have the weekend so, they can stay up late. On the other hand, if people would watch it and then go out, you may find a stark drop-off during the 3^rd hour. My out-going days are over for the most part. It’s dinner parties and the occasional hotel bar for me. So, I’m not affected but younger viewers may have to fire up the DVR or catch when it streams next day. We’ll see how it all works out.

 

As for tonight’s SmackDown, it looks like they’re experimenting and they should since they got the money to back the production values. We’ll also see Giovanni Vinci and Apollo Crews go for it one more time so Vinci can get some redemption. The Ladies will show their stuff as Bayley and Naomi face off against Nia Jax and Tiffany Stratton. LA Knight will get a taste of Andrade to give Carmelo Hayes a break. And naturally, Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes get a “screen test”.  Let me get a look at this.

 

The Unofficial Watch Party is at 8pm PDT. Pick your platform and play along…you know, if you want.

 

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)