WWE SmackDown Smacks and Downs: Bayley vs. Charlotte furthers Sasha Banks feud

Smack: Sonya Deville continues to shine

Down: the luster is gone from Otis and Mandy Rose

Sonya Deville really has found her niche as a character. She’s become much more no-nonsense and fierce since she turned on Rose. She also is portrayed as an intelligent, if not conniving, individual as she seems to be the one pulling the strings in this feud with Rose and Otis.

It started with her match against Rose several weeks back where she was just beating Rose. I like when Deville puts Rose in the body scissors and just starts facewashing her with forearms and her fists, something she did in their first match and last night. The trash talk while she did this only added to her ferocity.

Her ring IQ seems to be improving right along with her physical abilities. There was one point when Otis made it back to the ring apron, reaching his hand out to Rose for the tag. Rose and Deville were maybe 10 feet away; Deville quickly jumped over Rose and in between Rose and Otis, then basically tackled Rose further away from the corner. Well done.

I’ve consistently pointed out in this column week after week that Deville’s sliding/running knee is a thing of beauty. Last night’s knee to Rose was a pure spectacle of beautiful viciousness as she planted that right on the back of Rose’s neck.

Also, give a hand to Deville for making Ziggler feel relevant while not forcing us to hear him do his patented yelling promos. His superkick to Otis as he was checking on Rose after the match was, as his usually are, “sweet.” This is the most I’ve been interested by Ziggler since his Intercontinental Championship feud with The Miz several years back.

Now, is it just me, or is the luster, the shine, the honeymoon period for Otis and Rose diminishing? Last week, Rose played what some thought of as brainwashing mastermind and others as a supportive partner; there was no real follow-up this week to last week’s brief escapade with Strowman. We hardly heard from either Otis or Rose outside of their exchanges during the match.

Maybe it’s the lack of a crowd/response?

Further, Otis was incapacitated for half of the match after being driven into the steel steps. Really? How many times have we seen wrestlers driven into steel steps and continue with their match? I mean, Roman Reigns would be driven into the steel steps at least once every match after all.

I know: the spot was meant to convey his confidence in Rose’s abilities to win the match even though he was injured. It was meant to convey just how much they care for each other. It just wasn’t realistic even in the kayfabe world of professional wrestling.

There just wasn’t any coherence from last week to this week.

I wonder if the best thing to do with Otis and Rose would be to have them shoot some vignettes together while removing them from appearing live. This could be a simple way for fans to connect more with the two through their on-screen relationship, strengthening the bond between characters and fans.

We all knew the height of their WrestleMania moment was the apex, but it’s been a precipitous drop for the two (at least to me). Here’s hoping the next few weeks brings a rekindling of the connection from fans to this story.