Coast Is Clear - SmackDown Takes Us into Night of Champions

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?

 

Happy Friday! Well, there are a few things we can chat about this Night of Champions Eve but it’s not that much really. I shouldn't blather on for too long but it may be engaging. I could lose myself a bit. Guess we’ll see. Let’s just jump right in.

 

Over in the Realm of AEW, preparation is in full swing for Forbidden Door this Sunday. My primary focus is on the Future and technically what I’m seeing appears to be continued foundation laying. I won’t go into too much detail because the point is the Future but I will say that I can see that the set up is in place. It’s comforting and exciting. I’m getting a little insight in how this business can be respectably conducted and it’s nice to see. When things get going…it’ll be rightfully nuts and some people can get left by the wayside. I can see there’s thinking of how the future will proceed as well.

 

That said, MJF and Don Callis continue to nail their side of the assignment so, no problems there. MJF is really making sure he has to take his ass home in a box in the months to come so 👌 Our Man Moxley is staying focused on the task of fronting the Riders of Death as he should be and I’ll give a nod to Daniel Garcia for being the lovable goof of the team. He’ll follow Mox into any battle for better or worse so, we’ll see how this all plays out.

 

Regardless, what stood out for me was perhaps some inadvertent development on Will Ospreay’s side. I saw him take that tumble into the soaking tub backstage and the honest flub was the best thing he could have done for himself. It’s that sort of thing that he needs. Some glimpses at his personality.

 

I get the feeling that he’s trying a bit too hard to be a “superstar” and what he really needs to do, if he wants elevated status, is work on being likable. Now, he’ll have to face some truths. I appreciate his highflyer work but he’s not that big of a guy so, he’ll be more appreciated in places like AEW, NJPW and the Indies in general. I’ve noticed he has a bit of a beef with WWE and you could say it’s because there’s a good chance he’d never really make it there. He may be able to front the mid-card but you can see he has bigger aspirations than that so, he’ll probably always be better off doing what he’s doing.

 

I’m not going to say it’s fair but it is what it is. Oba Femi will never be able to do what Ospreay can but the general populous doesn’t really care. We like people who can kick an ass and no one is afraid of Ospreay. However, that doesn’t mean that Ospreay can’t be cool in his own right and him honestly tripping over himself gave us a look into who he is and that bloke, may just be all right. I suggest he follows that path rather than try to prove anything. Have fun. Make fun of himself from time to time and kill it in the ring. He’ll have the praise he deserves from an audience who will appreciate it. Sometimes, that’s all you can hope for.

 

I’ll just close by saying that I see that Ospreay is set for an intriguing showdown with Swerve Strickland but who I think Ospreay needs to face in the near future is Mistico. This may have happened in the past but their styles should produce an impressive show. We’ll see if AEW will agree in the future. For now, let Ospreay continue to reimagine and fully discover himself. There’s hope yet.

 

Over in the WWE Universe, Triple H may have put his foot in it in a recent interview with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. He basically says that a lot of fans take the product “too seriously”. We should just relax and enjoy. It’s supposed to be fun and we shouldn’t be thinking about it too hard. Take the chill pill.

 

Naturally, many commenters weren’t happy with that take. Now, I feel I have plenty of space to voice an opinion because I have to admit, when I first started this blog, I did take it too seriously. I love this stuff and when I started, it was absolute shite! They should have been ashamed of some of the stuff they just trotted out there. You could tell they were phoning it in and couldn’t care less. I couldn’t vouch for my interest. That’s why I remain “anonymous”. Though, these days it’s more because most people just have their preconceived notions. It’s definitely more watchable recently so, to an extent, I can see what H is saying.

 

However, what many commenters are voicing are fair points. Given the state of the economy and WWE/TKO boasting profits and offering tickets at exorbitant prices, you would think that the product could at least validate this. It’s better yes, but should you be shelling out a lot of money for it, not really. I don’t. Any shows I ever go to will be gratis. All I care to pay is for my ESPN bundle subscription and soon, that will be comped as well so, I won’t be able to complain. Nonetheless, the point I’m getting to is that true, WWE is best as an escape from one’s mundane world but if it wants our continued interest, it has to maintain a general standard of excellence and that bar should rise over time.

 

I think what we’re witnessing is the establishment of that baseline. The difference between now and say, the Attitude Era is that the Attitude Era had awesome characters. You had a full roster of fun, over the top performers that could bring the house down. Nowadays, character work is severely lacking. We’ve got awesome athletes but their characters are 2-dimensional at best. Not to say the Attitude Era was winning Emmys but they were entertaining as hell. Unfortunately, these days we have to work with what we’ve got and many of the personalities are just flat.

 

So, what do they do? Well, that’s why I’ve been suggesting following the Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon motif. If you don’t have flamboyant characters, you’ll have to make up for it with compelling stories. They have the Wrestling Families and legacies, lean into the patronage and let the legacies develop their characters around that. We see that a bit with the Bloodline Saga.

 

The problem with Roman Reigns has always been the flatness of the character. He has the look but “who is he”? It’s time to develop that and we see that starting to take shape as he sits as the “Head of the Table” a second time. We all know he’s no Rock and he doesn’t have to be. But he has to start demonstrating where he stands, why and back it up so we can at least hate or like him for more reasons than, “He’s boring…”.

 

Strangely enough, his place openly challenged by Solo Sikoa is a good start. We can see that Sikoa can’t stand him and I can sympathize. Sikoa should continue to make it clear why and stand by that so we get those politics. Jacob Fatu can stand by his “hard knocked life” stance and try to prove himself where he sees fit. The Usos have their respect but often are afterthoughts, there’s room for grievance or acceptance there. This is where they need to flesh out the character development.

 

As for those who weren’t born into it, that’s their character basis. They struggled. They strived. They succeeded. They’re hungry and that is something they’ll always have on the legacies. That juxtaposition should always be in play to an underlying degree. Take the Architect, Seth Rollins for instance. He’s the cunning manipulator because he has to be. No one knew him before The Shield now, whether intentional or not, he’ll forever be in its shadow and wouldn’t you know it, always looking for a new crew to run with.

 

Now, we don’t need a full-on soap opera, the action should be accented by the drama but the more we get the characters, the more compelling the dramatic action and the easier it gets for Creative to come up with some interesting television. Baby steps people. We won’t get there tomorrow but stay on them. They need to know that if they want our hard-earned dollars, they can’t churn out crap and expect us to like it. They have the resources. Figure out how to produce engaging television on the regular. I’ll leave it at that.

 

With that, we come to tonight’s SmackDown. It was recorded after RAW so the spoilers are already circulating. Yet, if you want to wait until showtime like I do, we can expect Giulia and Kiana James to have it out to either squash or begin their feud. We’ll get some technical action as Rey Fenix takes on Nathan Frazer for AAA glory. Paige will see what Jacy Jayne has got 1-on-1. Ricky Saints will try to take the US Championship off Trick Williams. And we’ll see what Cody Rhodes has to say to his fellow combatants GUNTHER and Sami Zayn ahead of their Triple Threat for the Undisputed Championship.

 

Dinner is easy tonight so I’ll be nice and settled in by 8pm PDT and I’ll post the Matches of Interest for Night of Champions later tonight. I’m not getting up for it but I’ll start the replay around 4pm PDT on Saturday if it’s up by then. As always, you’re welcome to join me whenever you’re ready. It’s the weekend after all.

 

See You in a Bit,

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)