WWE SmackDown’s Smacks & Downs: The Fiend finally has character development

Down: attention to detail lacking for Otis-Mandy Rose

-In the interaction above, Otis clearly tells Rose he received a text informing him Rose would be late for their doomed Valentine’s Day date. She responded by saying women don’t like being stood up. While of course, no one likes being stood up, did Rose not hear what Otis said?

I would think expected responses would include, “Who sent you that text?” and/or “I didn’t send that text.” If she did send the text though, then it should have been made more clear both during the date segment and in the backstage segment from last night. I wonder if this angle will extend to WrestleMania or beyond. If so, things need to make more sense than they did tonight.

Down: Corbin

-Please, just drop the king gimmick. Better yet, write him off for a while and come back with a full character repackage.

Smack: maintaining consistent storytelling, and adding a wrinkle

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-For several weeks now, we have seen the above glitch about twice an episode on SmackDown. Many believe it could either be Killer Kross or, my pick, Mustafa Ali (I’ve been hammering this home for weeks). I think Kross is more apt for the vignettes airing on NXT. While the announcers generally act as if they didn’t notice it, Cole appears to catch himself for a second before recovering.

Also, did y’all catch the second time it appeared? It was on the television screen above and behind Ziggler and Rose, the monitor Rose had been watching the gauntlet match on. This wrinkle was a nice touch and great way of keeping fans on the lookout.

Smack: DANIEL BRYAN VS. DREW GULAK

-Yeah, I’m excited. While I wrote that I would prefer to see Gulak trot out a new challenger for Bryan every week until they meet at SummerSlam, the addition of this match has me at least anticipating seeing one match on the PPV. While Aleister Black vs. AJ Styles is great on paper, it’s also no disqualification so shenanigans involving The O.C. are bound to happen.

This match, however, will be something special. I’m confident that if given a minimum of even eight minutes, these two will put on a clinic. Give them 20 minutes and it’ll be a match of the year candidate.

Bryan may be the most technically gifted wrestler this side of Bret Hart, and Gulak is a technician himself. The catch-as-catch-can sequences these two could have are hurting my head just thinking about them. Both are also snug wrestlers, so it’s bound to look intense.

What better way to elevate Gulak then a fantastic showing against Bryan? It’s probably what Bryan requested, looking at his history (“KofiMania”) and influence he has.

Hopefully, Elimination Chamber turns out to be something more along the lines of last year’s Stomping Grounds event in my hometown of Tacoma, WA: a lackluster card on paper that delivered in the ring with enthusiastic fan engagement. If not, well, at least there’s WrestleMania to look forward to in a few weeks.

See you next week!