WWE SmackDown Smacks and Downs: Bray Wyatt created Braun Strowman

The first WWE SmackDown after WrestleMania brings us a new Universal Champion in Braun Strowman. Who will be his first challenger in his initial top title run? Here are the “smacks” and “downs” for Apr. 10.

Last week, I lamented the lack of any story or reasonable justification on WWE SmackDown for Braun Strowman facing Goldberg at WrestleMania as Roman Reigns’ replacement. I also thought a title change was unlikely considering the absence of a build and reason for fan investment.

I forgot to consider that in the era of coronavirus, traditional angles in wrestling don’t necessarily matter anymore.

Not only did Strowman emerge victorious, but he came out looking stronger than he was already billed to be by taking four Spears from Goldberg and surviving. Strowman proceeded to hit Goldberg with his British Bulldog-esque running Powerslam four times for the clean victory.

There has long been an argument that Strowman doesn’t need the top title, but now that he has it, I’m intrigued to see if his reign is more forgettable (like Diesel), a long but tepid reign (like JBL), or a memorable reign (insert your favorite WWE/Universal Championship reign here).

The first steps towards any sort of reign began last night with Strowman’s first night as the top champion on WWE SmackDown. Let’s say I am highly, highly interested in his first big angle as champ.

Ironically enough, however, his first opponent is also someone many argue doesn’t need the top championship…

As a reminder of my criteria, I’m not going to run through each match/segment. Rather, I will identify a couple of segments that either worked (“smack”) or didn’t for whatever reason (“down”).

My criteria include quality of match/segment and how it starts and/or builds stories. After all, we watch partly to be caught up in the stories. If a great work-rate match happens with no context or bearing on the stories, it’s going to be a miss.

Also, just because something is a hit/miss doesn’t mean it was an overwhelming choice. The selection could be 51 percent hit, 75 percent miss, and so on.

There are other subtleties to my criteria, but those are pretty much the parameters.

Let’s also remember rosters are limited right now, and WWE has several talent self-quarantining and/or unable to travel due to state or national restrictions. There was a reason Apollo Crews was in a nearly 30-minute match on RAW and not Rey Mysterio, for example.

Well, I’ll begin with Strowman’s first challenger for his Universal Championship, a foe very familiar to the champion.

Smack: Bray Wyatt is still fascinating AND rewarding fans’ memories

I’ll admit it: I was excited when Shinsuke Nakamura interrupted Strowman in the show-opening segment and challenged him to a match. Then I realized he was going to be fodder to make Strowman look strong and I was less excited come main event.

(It doesn’t help that in my opinion, Nakamura outshined Strowman in BOTH segments. This is made even more impressive considering English is Nakamura’s second language.)

The last five minutes of the show rekindled that excitement I thought I had lost.

If you haven’t yet, take a couple of minutes to watch the video above. Much like Wyatt has done with, well, all of his opponents since becoming The Fiend, Wyatt traced his connection to his opponent, Strowman, to their past association.

For a company that seems allergic to recognizing history even from two months ago, this is a nice change.

Strowman debuted as the fourth member of the then Wyatt Family wearing the black goat mask. This was after a short time in NXT, and suffice it to say Strowman was green and needed a lot of improvement. He improved all right.

Strowman’s rivalry with Roman Reigns raised his star power; his association with Wyatt is what made him in the first place.

Basically, Wyatt created Strowman. Without Wyatt, it’s a fair question to ask if Strowman would become what we know him as today, if he would peak as a Luke Gallows-type big man, or if he would go down as one of the “giant” flops in WWE like Mark Jindrak or Heidenreich.

Wyatt channeled that history while also turning the focus to the current product and his character. He told Strowman that he has something that Wyatt wanted back (the Universal Championship that’s only blue because of Wyatt and the “Firefly Fun House”).

Just like that, we have a long-term and short-term reason for Wyatt not only setting his malicious sights on Strowman but also on the Universal Championship he lost to Goldberg without receiving a rematch.

My hesitancy with Strowman as champion is if he can give those champion-level promos to anchor the show. Much like working with Wyatt years ago immensely improved Strowman’s in-ring work and psychology, having promo matches with Wyatt should help both improve Strowman’s promo ability and make him more comfortable on the mic.

If Strowman doesn’t improve on the mic, well, this will probably be a short reign relegated to being a literal transitional championship.

If you have been paying attention to Wyatt and Strowman since about 2016, this feud should reward you based solely on the path set by last night’s “Firefly Fun House.” Like with Cena, I wonder just how much of their history Wyatt will intersperse during their rivalry as he plays his mind games with the “Monster among Men.”

Smack: the simmering tension between the “ultimate role models”

Down: the lack of a serious build for Tamina

I LOVE the interactions between Bayley and Sasha Banks, and tonight may have been the best night for the bubbling eruption just waiting to happen.

First, Bayley calls herself the “ultimate role model” only to quickly correct herself as she looked at Banks to say that they’re both the “ultimate role models.” You can see Banks’ face start to have that “stank” look on it anytime Bayley started getting too big for her britches after that line.

Second, when Tamina interrupted, Banks told Bayley, “Hold me back,” which Bayley basically reacted like, “Oh yeah!” Banks then said, “You’re lucky she’s holding me back,” as she trash-talked Tamina.

Classic heel stuff, and I loved it.

Tamina acquitted herself well, though it was a bit rocky at first. When she said no one person beat her, initially I thought this was odd considering she was the first eliminated. She corrected my thought almost immediately when she added it took the four other wrestlers pinning her together. She then challenged Bayley to a one-on-one match for the Women’s Championship, which might be weird considering her elimination in the match.

To Tamina’s credit, she did have the most dominant moments of the 5-way match even as the first elimination.

Bayley accepted…kind of. This is where the Mt. St. Helens (Washington State, baybee!) that is Sasha Banks began to boil. Bayley said if Tamina could defeat, “The Standard, The Boss, The Blueprint, The Greatest of All Time, my best friend, Sasha Banks,” then Tamina would receive her title match. Bayley then proceeded to slap Banks’ shoulder while Banks glared at her.

That look had me chanting “JOE’S GONNA KILL YOU” in my head, only replace “JOE’S” with “SASHA’S.” It was awesome.

(Hopefully, Banks actually receives a lengthy, memorable, battle-filled title defense considering she’s had rather lackluster reigns, and less cumulative days as champion in her multiple reigns than the likes of Alexa Bliss, Carmella, and Natalya as my colleague Kevin Parvizi starkly discussed.)

However, this brings me to the “down” for the segment. As I’ll discuss later, what exactly has Tamina done to earn a title shot beyond demanding one? She suddenly returned from injury when she was announced by Paige as one of the women in the WrestleMania match, and while she did have a good showing in the match, there hasn’t been much more.

There hasn’t been a vignette, interview, or promo that highlights Tamina’s credentials and/or that gives us a better sense of who she is so we can have more of an investment in her character and subsequently, her feuds and matches.

I assume she defeats Banks next week and faces Bayley for the title at Money in the Bank (wherever it happens). I think Bayley will inadvertently cost Banks the match next week through some miscommunication, furthering their tension.

There are still some weeks to build Tamina and provide us viewers with more investment in her character. Will it happen?

Down: the lack of vision in the men’s tag division

The Miz being sick (and storyline “injured”) forced a quick pivot to a triple threat match for the Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania. John Morrison successfully retained against Kofi Kingston and Jimmy Uso, and The Miz and Morrison spent their time gloating and playing a new “The Dirt Sheet” where they rapped their “hit” song “Hey Hey.”

Once the other two teams interrupted, it was announced that The Miz is cleared so we will have a triple threat match for the titles with the members who didn’t compete last Sunday: The Miz, Big E, and Jey Uso.

Why? If The Miz is cleared, just have the tag triple threat we were supposed to have at WrestleMania (sans ladders)! I understand for storyline continuity (that they booked themselves into) this makes sense, but in the overall canon of professional wrestling, this makes as much sense as Erick Rowan’s pet being an animatronic spider (oh wait…).

It makes even less sense considering there has been a long history in WWE of one member of a championship team being taken out of the match somehow, and the remaining member having to defend the titles in what amounts to a handicap match. They should have just done this at WrestleMania.

I get the feeling this “have one member defend the tag titles against one member of the opposing team(s)” is going to become a crutch WWE uses in the future far too often, kind of like how February suddenly becomes gauntlet match season in WWE.

Further, we were introduced to a new tag team/stable in The Forgotten Sons. As an avid NXT viewer, I really do not like TFS. They’re best known for the Full Sail crowd chanting, “WE FORGOT YOU!” My colleague Chris Jeter “affectionately” calls them The Melatonin Menaces, The Nyquil Knights, or The Benadryl Bandits (hint: they put us to sleep).

Yes, again and I know, rosters are limited, but debuting The Forgotten Sons was just so uninspiring and leads me to believe they will, unfortunately, be forgotten.

The members have military experience (which should be lauded) but didn’t seem to care about their military background until only a few months ago. This isn’t to say they should have always pushed their experience, but the sudden and quick turn from “You won’t forget us” to “We’re REAL veterans” was jarring. Take how they turned to the latter as an example.

They “turned” face because they were mad at NXT UK team Grizzled Young Veterans using the word “Veterans” in their names…even though GYV uses the term in a much different sense than TFS does! GYV is saying that while still young, they’re so talented, so tough, so…grizzled that they’re already on the level of ring veterans.

I’m sorry, but that is NOT a real face turn! That makes them look petty and idiotic, like they have no language comprehension skills. Nothing they did in NXT bettered my opinion of them, but hopefully something clicks on SmackDown and we get more than some brooding White dudes who feel like their privileges are being taken away.

Recently, they’ve begun living the MAGA gimmick including the discrimination and prejudice much of it entails. They’ve pretty much become the aggrieved White men who blame everyone but themselves for their perceived lack of importance. What once was “We will not be forgotten” because of a sense of a lack of opportunity has now become “We’ve become forgotten because of everyone else,” essentially.

Then again, since Vince McMahon is good friends with the Chief MAGAist himself, they’ll probably get a push and win the tag titles come SummerSlam.

Hopefully after next week, we can go back to having actual tag title matches between tag teams. What WWE does with The Forgotten Sons is also something to watch.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1248782679123931136

-Down: a lack of oomph in the women’s tag division

My love of Asuka and Kairi Sane has been unabashed. All of the little things they do, particularly their facial expressions and hilarious dances, just add so much to the show. Asuka jumping on the announcer’s table and giving commentary in Japanese was such a highlight, I quipped she is much better than Corey Graves.

Still, they lost (clean) again to Bliss Cross Applesauce for the Women’s Tag Team Championship, significantly stunting any momentum they had. I like Bliss Cross Applesauce, but not more than your average, run-of-the-mill tag team and here they are, your two-time Women’s Tag Team Champion.

This brings me to Carmella and Dana Brooke. They started teaming recently, but I really can’t remember much about them as a team. One, why did they team in the first place (I may have missed an explanation in their first match)? Two, what have they done to earn a title shot?

Then again, this is a company that’s repeatedly shown us that “earning” a title shot is as simple as confronting the champion during a promo and NOT through a winning a streak over other contenders (see: Tamina two slides ago).

It’s also uninspiring even keeping in mind the limited rosters. Since Boss “N” Hug Connection are enveloped in their feud over the Women’s Championship and the lack of established women’s tag teams available, Carmella and Brooke may have been the only options. This also makes the decision to break up Riott Squad even more questionable.

Since NXT talent was available, what about having Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez do the same thing as Carmella and Brooke? This would have worked better since there would have been definitive heel and face teams.

I’ll try to be optimistic though, and at least this should provide more prominence for Brooke. She has potential but was probably called up from NXT too quickly. Let’s hope she can highlight her skills and character in this feud.

-Smack AND Down: Jeff Hardy’s video series

Hardy is one of the most popular wrestlers in WWE history. His unique style, charisma, and connection with the audience has sustained even when he’s faced demons in his personal life and was separated from the company for years.

The first chapter in the career retrospect of Hardy was done well, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. It reminds fans of his journey (along with his brother Matt) and his rise. I hope they touch on his substance abuse issues and time away from WWE to give fans a more genuine representation.

Still, Hardy is on the back end of his career; wouldn’t something like this have done wonders for someone on the rise, maybe Tamina as she is supposed to be considered a legitimate threat to Bayley’s title? What about the suddenly emergent Drew Gulak? As anathema as they are to me, wouldn’t it have been nice to have a detailed video on The Forgotten Sons and why we should be hyped for them on SmackDown? (Trick question: we shouldn’t be hyped for them.)

What about why we should have any investment in Elias?

I think there could have been another video or two on the show, and in particular, highlighting talent on the rise/younger talent.

Well, with WWE reportedly holding live shows again next week for fear of breaching their television contracts (which stipulate “live shows), will there be a noticeable difference from these pre-taped shows? It was also stated that next week’s SmackDown had already been taped, but Vince McMahon decided to scrap it to hold live shows. Will this sudden change lead to more positives or negatives moving forward?

Hopefully, the build to Money in the Bank can build off of the momentum of the past several WWE shows. Until next week, stay safe, healthy, and optimistic dear readers!