WWE SmackDown: Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas Poised For Slow Burn To Top
WWE SmackDown superstar Andrade “Cien” Almas has lost several bouts to high-profile opponents, and it will be interesting to see how long it will take for him to avenge these losses.
When Andrade “Cien” Almas was announced as WWE SmackDown‘s latest acquisition following the Superstar Shakeup, it didn’t seem like WWE had a set plan for the former NXT Champion. Clearly, WWE understood that they had something special in the former CMLL and NJPW star, as Almas gained cred by participating in the Royal Rumble as NXT Champion and received some pretty sweet video packages prior to his debut.
Almas’s first program on the main roster came against Sin Cara, whom he defeated easily after a couple of underrated matches. With no time for friends, Almas mercilessly punished Sin Cara, heeding every sliver of advice he received from the mastermind herself, Zelina Vega.
The WWE Universe has taken well to the power couple of Vega and Almas, who both ascended to the summit of NXT before quickly moving up to the main roster. But while Almas has shown his prodigious talents on the big stage by taking some of SmackDown Live’s top stars to their limits, he’s been unable to pick up a truly noteworthy victory.
Almas has defeated R-Truth, Rusev, Aiden English, and Sin Cara in singles competition. However, he’s suffered a more notable list of defeats, getting pinned or submitted by Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Rey Mysterio, and Jeff Hardy on SmackDown. Since the start of September, Almas is 1-4 in singles competition, having lost to all of the aforementioned opponents with his lone win coming against R-Truth.
On some level, Almas’s inability to defeat the former champions could be seen as concerning, since it’s possible that it’s an indication of WWE viewing Almas as a mere mid-carder. In the past, we’ve seen superstars like Kevin Owens quickly pick up marquee victories on the main roster, but it isn’t realistic to expect most superstars to have the same success. Over the past two years, the handling of main roster call-ups has been criticized by many fans, so it is understandable for them to feel the same impatience regarding Almas.
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The issue is that the SmackDown roster is so stacked that if Almas starts picking up victories too quickly, his journey to the top may not feel as meaningful. Because Almas has lost close matches to Hardy, Styles, Bryan, and Mysterio, he has something to fight for over these next few months. Almas has a list of wrestlers he needs to exact revenge upon, and while he’s proven that he can hang, the next step is for him to prove that he can win.
Almas’s character arc in NXT was exceptionally-done, and much of the credit has to go to Vega, who is the best manager in WWE today.
Vega helped Almas snap out of his complacency, pulling him away from his vapid pursuits, such as partying and moping around, and coaxing the absolute best out of a truly elite competitor.
The result was a brief but memorable NXT Championship run, which included spell-binding TakeOver matches against Drew McIntyre, Johnny Gargano, and Aleister Black.
While Almas hasn’t been able to find a breakthrough victory on the main roster yet, he did defeat Rusev, who isn’t exactly light competition. Furthermore, the wins against former champions should be forthcoming, especially since a stern discussion with Vega doesn’t seem to be too far away. Vega demands nothing but excellence from Almas, who has fallen short in his pursuit for respect and dominance on the WWE main roster.
WWE wants to play up the fact that there’s a step up in competition from NXT to SmackDown Live, where legends of the industry like Styles, Bryan, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Samoa Joe regularly battle it out for championship gold. Almas has walked into one of the most competitive locker rooms in wrestling, and while he’s accomplished plenty in his career to make us understand that he’s capable of beating those men, WWE wants us to sit and watch the full story unfold.
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It’s hard to be patient when there’s reason to be leery about WWE telling the right story with a recently called-up NXT Superstar, but attempting to parsing out the reasoning behind a wrestler’s losses is often more productive. There’s more entertainment in looking at what’s in front of Almas, for example, because it’s only a matter of time before he starts going down the list of wrestlers who have beaten him and checks them off that list one by one.
Almas is a way-too-early favorite to hold the Money in the Bank briefcase in 2019, and it’s easy to see why fans have fallen in love with him. His matches are wonderful, he carries himself with pride, and he already proved his star status in NXT. El Idolo’s time as a world champion will come, because he firmly established himself as one of WWE’s rising stars in 2018.