Welcome to Wrestling Inc.’s weekly assessment of “WWE SmackDown,” the present the place all of us maintain our breath whereas Paul Heyman introduces one among his previous purchasers and slowly begin respiration once more when it seems to be the suitable one! Yeah, when you do not suppose now we have emotions about Friday evening’s double function Heyman/CM Punk reveal, you are out of your thoughts, and that is removed from the one factor now we have to speak about! We additionally had some stuff to say about Chelsea Inexperienced advancing within the ladies’s US title event, the continued feud between LA Knight and Shinsuke Nakamura, much more drama within the tag division, and all issues Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes.
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We’re giving the ladies’s WarGames construct a reprieve this week, however if you wish to know what occurred with that — or the rest that went down Friday evening — make sure you try our “SmackDown” outcomes web page. In case you’re needing the opinions of the WINC employees, nevertheless, look no additional — listed here are three issues we hated and three issues we beloved concerning the 11/22/24 episode of “WWE SmackDown.”
Cherished: Chelsea Inexperienced advances however Belair stays sturdy
Chelsea Inexperienced is one step nearer to turning into the inaugural Girls’s United States Champion and I could not be happier about it, particularly as a result of it did not make Bianca Belair look weak. Belair was taken out of the match after she noticed her tag group companion Jade Cargill laid out, bleeding, on prime of a automobile when it was all performed out on the tron for the viewers. Belair sprinted up the ramp, which was a superb solution to get each her and Cargill out of the event to focus utterly on their WarGames match. There was rather a lot happening there with these two, so in my humble opinion, taking them each out of the combo is the suitable name whereas they’re already holding gold. It additionally leaves issues open to interpretation a bit – was somebody making an attempt to take Cargill out of the US Championship event, or was this somebody’s doing on the opposing WarGames group?
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Inexperienced scoring the victory over Blair Davenport was nice. Davenport hasn’t been on TV sufficient these days to actually be damage by this, though it does stink for her, I am undecided many followers will bear in mind who Inexperienced beat to maneuver on. She’ll be up towards Bayley, who certified final week, and I believe Bayley is in a ok spot that she will be able to additionally take a loss, in all probability resulting from shenanigans. If Inexperienced makes it on to the finals, there is a chance she faces her personal tag group companion, Piper Niven, which is a superb story itself. Inexperienced simply has such a swell of fan assist behind her, it doesn’t matter what, that I believe this championship can be excellent for her. Inexperienced can completely go when she’s allowed time within the ring, so along with making the belt imply one thing along with her persona, she will be able to additionally change her character a bit to look extra like a menace within the ring.
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Even when she would not go any farther and will get beat by a brilliant credible former ladies’s champion in Bayley, she’s nonetheless going to look fairly sturdy and followers are solely going to get behind her much more. So if Inexperienced just isn’t the inaugural champion, and it is awarded to somebody like Bayley or Naomi who’ve a robust foothold within the WWE already, Inexperienced will likely be nicely on her solution to holding that gold sooner or later within the close to future. Both approach, I appreciated the way in which tonight performed out, and it provides me hope to see Inexperienced get what she deserves and get a shot on the new championship. She can be a delight to see on the return of “Saturday Evening’s Major Occasion.”
Written by Daisy Ruth
Hated: If I had a nickel for each time I made this joke, I would have two nickels!
It is starting to appear to be LA Knight must be part of Cody Rhodes within the Witness Safety Program.
I am certain long-time viewers of those opinion items will groan at that joke, as it’s the second time I’ve used it in direct reference to a Shinsuke Nakamura feud. Whereas I perceive that, I might additionally such as you to direct your consideration to the supply of the joke — why am I in a position to make that joke originally and finish of 2024, and alter actually nothing about it however a single title?
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Only one week after Shinsuke Nakamura’s surprising return again to WWE programming, it’s clear that we’re getting principally a carbon copy of Nakamura’s disastrously boring feud with Rhodes. It looks as if Nakamura can solely be preceded by menacing video packages that alternate between drawn slides and clips of him talking very carefully into the digital camera. This lack of character development is what killed his momentum when he feuded with Rhodes, and it is what in all probability will kill his momentum as soon as he’s performed with LA Knight.
It’s so embarrassing that Nakamura’s character has remained static over the previous 10 months. He’s being put right into a inventive pigeonhole, and when this feud with Knight in the end flops as a result of they don’t seem to be bringing something new to the desk, we’ll all be compelled to take a seat again and marvel why, oh why does WWE repeatedly stop Nakamura from evolving? We’re not even asking him to win the title, or be the face of the corporate! We’re merely asking him to point out us a distinct character, a distinct facet of Shinsuke Nakamura!
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There may be an argument that Nakamura’s mannerisms are just too iconic, inherent, or quintessential to his in-ring model {that a} full character change is totally inconceivable. Whereas I do not imagine that Nakamura’s mannerisms are iconic — it is advisable to achieve success and a cultural mainstay to be iconic, and due to WWE’s restrictive character growth, Nakamura is neither in comparison with different folks of his expertise and caliber on the roster — let’s entertain that argument. Chris Jericho has, traditionally and as we converse, managed to remain related due to his ever-shifting array of personas. Matt Hardy has performed the identical factor. They managed to claw their approach into icon standing due to their longevity, which exists as a result of they can keep related via dynamic change. Even The Usos have skilled huge change, regardless of their general characters staying the identical for all these years. Why is Nakamura an exception? Why is he not allowed to soar into the realm of “iconic,” and is as a substitute doomed to remain within the purgatory of static gimmick growth? Why is Nakamura being lowered to the identical character twice in a row, when WWE has had greater than ample time to reinvent his character?
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I’m downright ashamed that I get to make the identical actual Witness Safety Program joke twice in 10 months. Perhaps it is Nakamura that ought to go into hiding from WWE Artistic.
Written by Angeline Phu
Hated: Cody’s promo made KO the babyface
Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens have been longtime associates, however behind the champion’s thoughts was the worry that Owens might activate him like everybody else. Rhodes was appropriate when a “World Star”-esque video leaked exhibiting Owens attacking his good friend outdoors his tour bus.
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Owens additionally turned on Orton and presumably ended his profession with a piledriver. Clad in a sleeveless tuxedo shirt, Owens poured his coronary heart out and answered, “why Owens why?” It was “The Prizefighter” who fought The Bloodline for 4 years. Roman Reigns tried to finish his profession a number of instances whereas Rhodes was in one other firm. Upon his return, Owens stood by his good friend and fought alongside him towards The Bloodline. When Rhodes teamed up along with his nemesis, Owens felt betrayed.
“The American Nightmare” could not deal with the criticism, though Owens is correct. Rhodes instructed Owens he at all times performs the sufferer, which is wealthy coming from him (and I say that as a fan of his). He went additional, saying Owens was obsessive about being the face of WWE. That was actually the whole crux of “ending the story” — in addition to profitable the title his dad by no means held, Rhodes has strived particularly to be the face of WWE. They by no means noticed him as a main-eventer and lower him, so he went to Japan and the indies and began his personal promotion. He took the chance to return to WWE and confirmed them that he could possibly be the face of the corporate. Rhodes got here off the heel on this promo and made me wish to root for Owens.
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One other a part of the phase that wasn’t clear was when the match can be going down. Rhodes mentioned he did not care if their match was proper then and there, subsequent week at “Survivor Sequence”, or on the resurrection of “Saturday Evening’s Major Occasion.” In response to the title of the phase on WWE’s YouTube, it’s going to be on the latter.
At this fee, Rhodes ought to take a piledriver and drop the title to Owens.
Written by Samantha Schipman
Hated: A random Carmelo seems
As an admitted fan of Carmelo Hayes, I’ll at all times be joyful to see him be given tv time and at all times take pleasure in seeing him concerned in a narrative. That being mentioned, it would not at all times imply that WWE nails it each single time that they insert him into one thing.
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Minutes previous to Hayes operating into Cody Rhodes backstage and the 2 moving into an altercation (for a scarcity of a greater time period), Rhodes had a particularly tense and heated trade with Kevin Owens. Whereas the backstage encounter between Hayes and Rhodes was a method of establishing a match between them subsequent week, it felt pointless and random. The Undisputed WWE Champion has been focusing all of his vitality on in search of his retribution towards Owens for placing Randy Orton on the shelf with an assault, so there was no have to take up extra tv time to arrange a match subsequent week between Rhodes and Hayes when there are higher and simpler methods to function each males on “SmackDown” while furthering ongoing storylines as a substitute of staring up one thing new.
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Written by Olivia Quinlan
Cherished: The WWE tag titles getting a bit extra care
A lot has been mentioned about WWE’s lack of care in relation to every one among its divisions at a given time, however a sore spot particularly lately has been the sporadic consideration put into the tag division. So it has been actually refreshing for the reason that Motor Metropolis Machine Weapons emerged to take the tag titles on “SmackDown” from The Bloodline, offering champions solely devoted to the division they reign over and thus a connection to their challenger pool.
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With MCMG’s title reign has not solely come an enhanced course for the titles, however has additionally been proven to gentle a hearth underneath the tails of the Road Earnings and #DIY, two groups which have lengthy been with out drive or function on TV. A part of what has made the dynamic so compelling in current weeks has been the layers of potential inside the story’s arc, every group’s arc, in addition to the arc of every character inside the groups. There has lengthy been a sentiment that Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins may give attention to singles alternatives having spent so lengthy and completed comparatively all the things there may be to do as a tag group. In the meantime, Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano’s variations are storied, creating a way of unease as the previous goes off the rails and the latter making an attempt his utmost to mitigate the damages. The one really stable group on this at present, that appear to know the place their heads are at, is the tag group champions. Sooner or later, a rubber band is sure to snap underneath a lot stress, nevertheless it’s been left open to suggestion as to which one will go first.
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Will Ciampa activate Gargano, or vice versa? Will the Earnings break up in the end, or will they flip and renew their focus? Might we lastly be getting a heel #DIY tandem, with Gargano giving in to the hate alongside his companion? These are good inquiries to have, they current differing choices for the story to go and every one provides a brand new dynamic for the three groups to work with. All of that was to say that I’m having fun with the continued focus being positioned on the tag group division, let’s simply hope WWE can construct on it with extra groups and characters additional down the road (and let’s have slightly extra of this over on “WWE Uncooked”).
Written by Max Everett
Cherished: Look in my eyes, what do you see!
The day I write a “Cherished” phase about CM Punk is the day that Hell freezes over.
There’s a scene in “Lilo and Sew” the place Lilo prays for an angel — the nicest one heaven has — to be her good friend, earlier than the film instantly cuts to Sew rising from a smoldering mess of spaceship particles and smoke. That is precisely the way it felt seeing CM Punk come out from behind the scenes within the remaining minutes of Friday’s episode of “SmackDown” to be Roman Reigns’ fifth and remaining WarGames member. We right here at Wrestling Inc. had been holding our palms collectively in a collective prayer circle for someone, actually ANYBODY, apart from Brock Lesnar to stroll out of guerilla after Paul Heyman’s stunning-as-usual oration, and CM Punk got here out as an unhinged reply to our hopes.
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Some might query the relevancy of CM Punk in a storyline as deep and complex as The Bloodline’s story, and generally, I do agree that the strings are skinny. Nonetheless, the identical factor will be mentioned about Bronson Reed — what sort of connection does he actually must Solo Sikoa’s New Bloodline, other than the truth that each of them are Pacific Islander? There typically tends to be an odd one out in current WarGames groups: IYO SKY feels out of left area for this 12 months’s ladies’s WarGames match, Shotzi felt like an odd lady out in final 12 months’s ladies’s WarGames match. One may even argue Drew McIntyre’s involvement in final 12 months’s males’s WarGames match was extra of a wedge-in. So, though Punk’s connections to this ongoing Bloodline saga are slim outdoors of his historic affiliation with Paul Heyman, I do not suppose that it is a deal-breaker for an in any other case packed group line-up.
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Others may learn my dramatized introduction and marvel if I am joyful due to CM Punk, or if I am joyful due to the shortage of Brock Lesnar. I would argue it is slightly little bit of each, however let me defend my case for the previous. After being in such a long-winded rivalry with Drew McIntyre, the place the identical factors and the identical gimmicks had been used and reused advert nauseam, it’s so refreshing to see Punk in a brand new setting. Whether or not you suppose Punk is washed or not, there isn’t any denying that he brings a wealth of expertise and star-power to the match; if he’s going to be put into any WWE storyline — at present ongoing or potential — it’d as nicely be this one. There’s additionally an odd consolation in realizing that Punk is so shallowly linked to this storyline. After his deep, dramatic (or traumatic) ties with McIntyre, it’s going to be advantageous to see Punk simply fiddle for every week, after which (hopefully) buzz off to a different storyline, or retirement, or wherever he sees himself match. If nothing else, there are few issues extra satisfying than listening to the enduring guitar riff of “Cult of Character.” CM Punk, I hope your previous joints are prepared for warfare.
Appears like Hell froze over.
Written by Angeline Phu
