WWE SmackDown Smacks/Downs: Celebrating 25 years of forced mediocrity

Smack: looks like an actual, sensible story in the men’s tag division

I wasn’t sure what made Lucha House Party credible opponents to interrupt The New Day, but I was all for it. Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado are talented individuals, and Dorado seems to have some latent potential on the mic and as a character.

The former champion, The Miz and John Morrison, interrupting LHP and walking right by them like they didn’t notice them was a nice touch and coherent to their act. It also makes sense that they would want the first title match.

Out came The Forgotten Sons, who induce an immediate urge to change the channel. As I wrote two weeks ago, they are just…bad. I understand trying to make them strong, but having them decimate The New Day like that out of nowhere doesn’t move the needle for me.

Still, at least WWE is establishing more teams beyond the triumvirate of The New Day, The Usos, and The Miz & Morrison.

The match between LHP and The Miz was fast-paced and allowed Metalik and Dorado to highlight their tag team prowess. If you’ve been avidly watching WWE programming the last three years or so, particularly 205 Live, you already know how talented they are. If you haven’t, this match was a nice refresher on their skills.

I’m glad they emerged victorious with a clean victory as Metalik countered a Skull Crushing Finale into a victory roll. Even if LHP doesn’t win the Tag Team Championship, they will put on a show as evidenced by their short but intense run in the Elimination Chamber match.

After The Forgotten Sons face The New Day in a non-title match, I assume we will have some kind of Tag Team Championship fatal 4-way at Money in the Bank. Since we already had a ladder match at WrestleMania and the PPV is built around ladder matches, don’t be surprised if this turns into some kind of elimination match (maybe elimination tables match?).

After a seeming lack of vision and fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants booking in the tag division, I’m glad to see we have some sort of a longer-term story.

An aside: Since I don’t discuss it later, I will say that I was completely uninterested in the Women’s Tag Team Championship match. It was a foregone conclusion Bliss Cross Applesauce would retain. I’m hoping we see some more clarity in this division heading to Money in the Bank.

Ironically, I praised the women’s tag division coming out WrestleMania for a few weeks while being down on the men’s division. It’s now flipped.