WWE SmackDown Smacks and Downs: The ladder climb to unemployment

WWE SmackDown is moving forward with the build for Money in the Bank. Also, we have new tag champs … but why this way? Let’s take a look at the “smacks” and “downs” for the Apr. 17 episode.

What a terrible, terrible week in professional wrestling.

“Black Wednesday” saw the outright release or furlough of a large portion of WWE employees including wrestlers, producers, writers, and more. Profit margins are more important than actual humans, as Amelia Nash wrote. Josiah McDonald argued there is a lack of morality in the actions from WWE. Patches Chance gives advice on how to watch wrestling without supporting WWE.

In line with what I’ve said before, Zack Heydorn argued no wrestling promotions should be running any show. They are placing themselves and others at risk for contracting COVID-19.

It was also reported Friday that WWE is now changing its stance on live shows and will include taped shows for the most part moving forward. This would have made the releases/furloughs even more egregious until a certain segment on last night’s show.

With all that said, because most companies are running shows, we here at Daily DDT also have an obligation to cover shows, and I have an obligation to cover SmackDown every week.

(Shout outs to Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, Major League Wrestling, and in particular, New Japan Pro Wrestling for having the prudence and morality to shut down)

That obligation isn’t just because of the stubborn insistence of WWE on holding events; it is because I have an obligation to you, my dear readers, to continue bringing the analysis and coverage you’ve come to expect from me.

Preamble aside, let’s move to last night’s show.

This was the first live SmackDown since WWE was deemed an “essential” business by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Were there any noticeable changes from the pre-taped shows of the past few weeks?

Further, the build to Money in the Bank began on Monday’s RAW with the first qualifying matches for the MITB ladder matches. Two more qualifying matches occurred last night across both men’s and women’s divisions.

Since I won’t cover them here, Daniel Bryan defeated Cesaro with the LaBell Lock to qualify. Dana Brooke defeated Naomi with a sunset flip (yes, that really happened).

(Quick aside: I am concerned with Bryan being in another ladder match considering the ladder match at WrestleMania 31 was the beginning of the end for Bryan in 2015. His remarks that he is winding down his full-time career may help alleviate some concerns.)

Lastly, as I discussed last week, the men’s tag division is leaving me questioning the direction. With another triple threat match for the titles, was there any more clarity moving forward?

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.

Well, let’s begin with the main event segment, where we have a NEW Tag Team Champion.

Smack: a pretty decent match

Down: an unnecessary match with a title change that shouldn’t have needed to happened in the first place

Considering the bell rung with only about 10 minutes left in the show, I thought we were given a pretty good story with some fast-paced action although with no picture-in-picture, who knows what happened during commercials?

Sometimes predictable is good. It was predictable that Jey Uso and The Miz would team for a short while to remove Big E from the equation (let’s not discuss the logical fallacies of multi-person matches in WWE today).

Credit to E since his lower back looked like it landed square on the edge of the announcer’s table. Ouch, indeed.

However, this was still a triple threat match for the Tag Team Championship and not a triple threat tag team match. We already had the “novelty” of this match at WrestleMania. As I discussed last week, there is some kayfabe logic in doing the same match with the other partners.

When employing actual logic, however, the tried-and-true #1 contender match would have been a better option.

Beyond just being weird that the Tag Team Championship is being defended in non-tag matches, triple threats generally involve endings where the champion isn’t involved in the decision. At least they rectified that usual pitfall by having E pin The Miz. Having a contender match with a title match either next week or at Money in the Bank would have created a more definitive change.

Further, why did The New Day lose their title in the first place? There really was nothing that The Miz and John Morrison did (to me) that elevated the titles, the show, or the company. Not only were they basically transitional champions, but this reeks of a welcome back gift for Morrison more than anything.

Also, were the title changes to help The New Day add another title reign so that they catch up with The Dudley Boyz, who have nine reigns? They’re quickly going the route of Charlotte Flair it seems in that the thought is having a large number of reigns is better than having longer reigns. It’s the “quantity vs. quality” argument. This is also weird considering just how heavily their record-breaking reign of a few years back was pushed.

In terms of division clarity, there is some, but not necessarily the outcome I prefer.

Moving forward, it seems like (and I hate that I’m typing this out) The Forgotten Sons will be given a strong push to a title match almost immediately.

I made my disdain for TFS well-known last week. Their sole good match was their last one in NXT against Grizzled Young Veterans. Remember, TFS had a beef with GYV because of the use of the word “Veteran,” revealing just how little comprehension skills Steve Cutler, Wesley Blake, and Jaxson Ryker possess.

They’ve also posted photos on social media with Trump-Pence/MAGA gear visible, and I discussed how this MAGA gimmick of aggrieved White men just doesn’t do it for me. For one, it just reinforces to people (mainly White people) that what they perceive to be their birthrights, their privileges are being “taken away” by those different from them.

Two, it fails to place any sort of responsibility for their placement and/or predicament either on themselves or forces beyond their control. Is it really the fault of teams like Street Profits and The New Day that TFS didn’t get a chance, or just the fact that TFS are so bland they receive go-away heat? “WE FORGOT YOU” from the Full Sail crowd never gets old.

However, I can just see a certain billionaire in Titan Tower (more on this later) laying out the feud with the eventual triumph of the “aggrieved” White men over those Black people who “took” their job. Now I have South Park stuck in my head.

Smack: Bray Wyatt continues to be involved in strong feuds with fantastic storytelling

I wasn’t expecting much from the opening “Moment of Bliss” segment with Universal Champion Braun Strowman. However, to my surprise, Strowman’s acting was’t atrocious. He seemed calm and genuine in his happiness for becoming champion. He’s always had great chemistry in the ring and on the mic with Alexa Bliss, and it was a nice callback to Team Little Big.

He really excelled once he noticed the gift, at first doing a slight double-take and then crediting Bliss for the gift. Bliss was fantastic (as she usually is on the mic) when she hesitantly informed Strowman she actually didn’t get him a gift. Bonus points for her confused look as she turned to Nikki Cross to ask her if she was the one who brought the gift.

Was it highly predictable the black sheep mask was going to be the gift? Very much so. Did that detract from the segment? No, that’s very much not the case. Again, sometimes predictable is good.

Last week, Wyatt made his intentions known that he wanted “his” Universal Championship back (he never had a rematch with Goldberg). In doing so, he reminded fans everywhere it was he who brought Strowman to WWE (kayfabe) as the “black sheep” of The Wyatt Family, showing highlights of them from years ago.

Honestly, if it wasn’t the black sheep mask Strowman pulled out the box, this segment would have made absolutely no sense. Strowman pulling out the mask not only maintains a coherent story, but also rewards fans for their knowledge of these two wrestlers and their past interactions, much like it did for Wyatt-Cena.

As with Cena, Wyatt is showing in his two weeks of “interactions” with Strowman that he absolutely excels in the psychology of professional wrestling and telling a gripping story. Strowman might be the “Monster among Men,” but even a monster has to deal with psychological issues that can be their downfall.

Lastly, it makes sense why Strowman is facing Wyatt as opposed to The Fiend. Their history together has never involved The Fiend, and unlike Cena, Strowman was not a catalyst or even a factor in the creation of The Fiend.

Then again, maybe something happens in their match at Money in the Bank or on the following episode of SmackDown.

Maybe Wyatt hearkens to The Wyatt Family being broken up through a Superstar Shakeup as the tipping point for Wyatt in creating The Fiend. He can blame Strowman and say if it wasn’t for him trying to outshine the rest of the family, the breakup may have never happened.

For someone who wasn’t sold on Strowman as champion, I am being roped into his first feud thanks to the marvelous work of Wyatt. Yes, Strowman deserves credit for playing his part well, but he hasn’t been this interesting since his intense rivalry with “He Who Must Not be Named,” Roman Reigns.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1251318636473651202

Smack: a swerve that worked, and Sonya Deville really is the “Fire”

(One of the writers who was released Wednesday, Andrea Listenberger, was integral to the Otis-Mandy Rose story. I want to thank her for her contributions these past few months.)

I’ll admit, I thought we were headed down another (probably terrible) lesbian love story between Deville and Mandy Rose. I mean, it was intimated as much over the past year. After the whole Lana-Liv Morgan debacle (and lack of recognition of Jake Atlas’ identity and goals), I was ready to roll my eyes and give this a big “down.”

Then Deville figuratively broke my ankles.

Deville started out sad, emotional, and a wreck, discussing how Rose hasn’t responded to her texts or calls for two weeks; who can blame Rose, really? She pleaded with Rose to come out so she could explain her actions.

Rose appeared and promptly told Deville she didn’t want to hear anything. Deville turned it on her by saying Rose would be throwing away five years of friendship without letting her explain. She told Rose, “You’re the most…” and this is where I thought she was going to say, “…special person I’ve ever met,” or something.

Instead, she turned her facial expression on a dime and said, “…selfish human being I’ve ever met in my entire life.”

She proceeded to lay out legitimate issues on why she would think of Rose as so selfish. They teamed together for five years, but it was Rose who had the magazine covers, Rose who had the more high-profile matches. They entered to Rose’s music only to have Deville’s face blurred out by the softcore porn entrance.

Deville said it was when Rose showed her interest in Otis that she knew she was just second fiddle to “a dime a dozen bottled blonde who looks like she was created in a lab” with “no talent.” She wants to hurt Rose, ruin her life, and show everyone that “Fire” was the real star of Fire & Desire, “An actual fighter, not some centerfold bitch.”

Whew! It really is all on the table now.

Deville, in particular, did very well tonight, as did Rose. When a heel has justifiable reasons for their actions, we as fans are torn because we can understand their anguish, their desires while also hating them for their tactics. Surely there were better, less destructive options available (like talking), right?

While telling Rose (almost in pity) that Dolph Ziggler actually cares about her, Deville said the ultimate goal was to have Rose focus on winning the Women’s Tag Team Championship with her. Again, there was probably an easier option, but in kayfabe, it works. After all, as a team, their ultimate goal should be to become the Women’s Tag Team Champion.

I was glad to see Deville receive some prominent mic time. She showed the makings of a good, consistent promo. My only criticism is there wasn’t much tonal difference between her initial sad, emotional state and her angry, malicious state. Her facial expressions and body language made those changes, but not so much in the voice. Still, that is something that will come with more mic time.

I’m actually excited to see the eventual match between Deville and Rose, but we’ll probably have one or two mixed tag matches before then. Either way, this has been a well-told story for a long time.

DOWN DOWN DOWN: unnecessarily adding insult to injury

In lieu of discussing other segments on what was a loaded show in terms of stories, I would be remiss if I didn’t excoriate WWE for their tone-deafness during last night’s show.

Look, let’s be clear here: WWE greedily hoarded talent and were somehow shocked when said talents were frustrated they weren’t being used because there are just too many wrestlers signed to WWE. Then, to ensure profit margins, they basically fired a multitude of these same wrestlers and other people who really have no recourse in finding another job.

To make matters worse, released wrestlers are under a 90 day non-compete clause (30 for released NXT wrestlers). Many non-wrestlers on social media joked they have nowhere to go anyway during this pandemic, but they fail to understand that they could still sign contracts, create merchandise, and begin stories with different promotions through the wonders of technology.

I was hoping WWE would be prudent and do all they could to avoid reminding fans of the mass release of talent, but they couldn’t even do that.

Give them credit for improvising during this pandemic. Take all that credit away (and more) for making the Money in the Bank ladder matches “Climbing the Corporate Ladder” matches.

You read that right.

Think of how many of the wrestlers who lost their jobs this week did their damndest to climb the corporate ladder in terms of position on the card only to have internal politics and the decision-making of one individual determine their worth. Sure, that’s how many of us feel in our jobs/occupations, so I’m also sure we can all understand the pain, anger, and loss of direction many of these talent are experiencing.

WWE basically rubbed salt in the wound with this unnecessary match format. It’s just such a careless blunder considering what WWE needs right now is positive press and not to remind fans of just how difficult it is to support them as a company. Instead, it’s as egregious an own-goal as any.

Further, how many levels did this have to be cleared by before it made it to air? How long had this match been discussed? The latter question is important because really, no matter when it was discussed and decided, they either knew the releases were coming; didn’t know and found out with everyone else, yet didn’t change the match; or the match was decided after the releases from Wednesday.

If it is the last one in particular, it would be such a shameful mark on WWE. Then again, it’s not like holding an event in a country shortly after their government abducted, murdered, and dismembered a journalist brought enough shame upon WWE to change their ways or cancel their partnership with that country.

Specifically to the ladder matches, it sounds like these matches have already been taped (which adds further confusion on the timeline of the matches being cleared), so be prepared to see a bunch of shenanigans (predictable and unpredictable). There will probably be the obligatory shots of people working in the offices just to have wrestlers roll through and destroy the offices.

Over/under on how long into one of the matches we see a high-profile name (maybe Stephanie McMahon?) shocked when a wrestler is thrown through through their office wall?

Also, someone is falling from or being thrown off the roof. Just expect them to show up on RAW the next night kind of like how Elias splat on the concrete floor only to appear the next week with no injuries.

No one should be ridiculed for supporting WWE just as no one should be ridiculed for despising WWE. However, I think we can all agree that WWE really makes it difficult to wholeheartedly support them, especially when so many of their mishaps are self-inflicted.

I would encourage people to further check out the promotions I lauded in the opening slide, but also independent wrestlers and promotions. Particularly if you find it troubling to support WWE, check out places like DEFY Wrestling in Seattle, U4IA (pronounced “euphoria”) Pro Wrestling in San Antonio, and so many more around the country.

Whatever the case, I will be here to cover SmackDown and I hope I can provide enough for you to keep coming back week after week my dear readers. Please stay safe and healthy, and practice social distancing as much as possible. Until next week…