WWE SmackDown Smacks and Downs: Dawn of Bayley-2-Belts!

Was WWE SmackDown able to rebound after last week’s show? What’s to make of Boss ‘N’ Hug Connection after last night? Here are the “smacks” and “downs” for Jun. 5.

Last week’s show left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I went into last night’s show hoping it would be better.

Most of the first hour was a sludge, but it started to pick up with the Lacey Evans-Sonya Deville rematch after last week’s double count out (a frequent finish the past week on WWE television).

I’m not going to cover the match here, but these two have wonderful chemistry together and put on another solid match. It is obvious the growth each wrestler has had, and I think it’s safe to wonder how much of that has been due to not having a crowd.

I also think Deville’s modified, elevated neckbreaker from the apron to her knee/ground might be my new favorite move. It was something wicked.

There were two big segments advertised for last night. I’ll start with the main event, where Boss ‘N’ Hug Connection (Bayley and Sasha Banks) challenged Bliss Cross Applesauce (Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross) for the Women’s Tag Team Championship. What does a title change mean for the bubbling implosion waiting to happen between Bayley and Banks?

Also advertised was a “special warning” for Universal Champion Braun Strowman delivered by his opponents at Backlash, The Miz and John Morrison. Well … let’s just say that it was something different, and while sometimes different is good, last night was not the case. Poor, poor Kayla Braxton …

Then there was the follow up to the Jeff Hardy segments from last week. I mean, it couldn’t be worse than last week, right? Was Hardy able to provide any updates we already didn’t know or speculate? If it isn’t who we all suspect it to be, then who’s going to be the swerve (and I don’t mean Isaiah “Swerve” Scott)?

Lastly, there was a billed face-to-face interaction between Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles, the two men competing in the finals of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament next week. Were the two competitors able to add intrigue to their match, and what came of the segment?

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 includes 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 begin with the birth of Bayley-2-Belts.

Smack: a well-told story in the match leading to Bayley-2-Belts

Smack: another kernel added to the coming implosion of Bayley and Banks

This was a good match to main event the show and the title change was something I hinted at in last week’s piece.

The story told in the match was one of two even teams trying to find some advantage to earn the victory. Both teams saw extended offense against each other, and both teams also had to work from a numbers disadvantage during the match. It was a standard tag formula, but again, standard can be great if done well.

The ending of the match is where the most intriguing angle took place, setting up what should be a fascinating next two months or so until SummerSlam in the women’s singles and tag divisions.

As Banks look to hit the Bank Statement on Cross, Bayley tagged herself in, pretty much dragged Banks off of Cross, and locked in her own version of the move (Bayment?). Cross quickly countered into a pin as Banks looked on from ringside with a look of shock and anger only to breakup the pin.

Banks pulled her partner to the corner and tagged in, applying the actual Bank Statement to Cross. Credit to Bayley as she prevented from Bliss from interfering. However, Cross reversed into a pin only for Banks to counter that into a leverage pin of her own for the victory.

Heel Bayley is just on fire. Her line to the announcers as she held both of her championships was perfect: “OH MY GOD IT’S SO HEAVY, I HAVE SO MUCH GOLD!” That is a great heel line, especially for a character whose arrogance is only matched by her inability to realistically judge herself.

Now, what does this mean for Banks? She looked downright offended, rightfully, when Bayley not only tagged in and pulled herself off of Cross, but hastily applied a bastardized version of her Bank Statement. However, the allure of victory (at least last night) overrode those sentiments as she not only saved her partner, but won the match and that all important “champion’s purse.”

That’s the other thing to take notice of: Banks beat Bliss last week in a match Bayley volunteered her for, and last night, she was the one who played the crucial roles in preventing a defeat and winning the match.

Bayley, true to character, has also been taking/sharing the credit for Banks’ victories (though she didn’t accept joint responsibility when Banks was losing to Evans and the now-forgotten Tamina).

Take a look at these two tweets from Banks after the show last night. There doesn’t seem to be any recognition of her partner in her words. She seems to be crediting herself for the victory and again, who’s going to disagree?

Last week, I wrote, “Does becoming Bayley-2-Belts further exacerbate her arrogance and cause more stress and harm to Banks? Does Banks turn on Bayley while celebrating in the ring? Does Bayley turn on Banks after winning?” Obviously, the last two questions didn’t come to fruition, but the first point is one to consider.

We already know heel Bayley is about as arrogant as any character in WWE. She now has two championships to bolster her image, but as with most great heels, she tends to overlook just how she became so accomplished. I mean, she’s so confident in her abilities she has no problem volunteering her partner and best friend for matches.

Remember last week when Banks had to change into some admittedly sweet Jordans because she wasn’t dressed to wrestle and was in boots? That didn’t stop Bayley from offering up Bayley to Bliss.

With only one more SmackDown before Backlash, it’ll be interesting to see if we have a Women’s Championship match, a Women’s Tag Team Championship match, or both on the pay-per-view. Unlike Becky Lynch, who took on any challenge as Becky-2-Belts, Bayley’s character is one that would try to defend either championship as little as possible.

If Bayley does have a Women’s Championship match, you know who is probably #1 contender? Sasha Banks. The other viable contender is Evans after her victory last night, but she seems locked in with Deville. What happens if next Friday it’s announced Bayley is defending against Banks?

If it’s not Banks and Bayley does have to defend, will Banks be there supporting her partner? Will Banks feel scorned she didn’t receive the championship match?

What happens if they’re also announced to defend the Women’s Tag Team Championship in a rematch against Bliss Cross Applesauce or even The IIconics? Match order plays a key, but let’s pontificate if they have the singles match first; would either be able to leave the results of that match behind them as they head into their tag match?

If Bayley defends against someone else and loses, what does that do to their psyches heading into the tag match? What if Banks helps Bayley retain or causes her to lose?

If they’re only slated to defend the the Tag Team Championship, will any of the simmering tension manifest and cause them to lose? What if they overcome those tensions and retain?

There are so many questions and possible angles that I was hoping for a title change last night. Now that Boss “N” Hug have regained the championship they were the inaugural holders of, and with the long-term story between the two, count me in to see how this plays out over the next few months.

Down: childish heels and your standard Strowman tipping over something heavy segment

If you’re excited for this title match, more power to you. Last night, if anything, made me mark this match as my “stretch your legs and walk around” segment for Backlash. That’s not a good thing for the supposed top championship and champion on the brand.

The “special warning” from The Miz and Morrison turned out to be some childish pranks and outright vandalism and destruction of property, something I’m sure wasn’t there to send a message about anything going on in the world or anything (which I’ll come back to in the last slide)…

Let’s ruin Strowman’s drink! Let’s dump slime on him, well, kind of on him, but mostly on poor Kayla Braxton, just trying to do her job of delivering terribly scripted questions to a wrestler. I popped when she, trying to hold in her rage, exploded by saying, “THOSE…BASTARDS!” Agreed, Braxton, agreed.

Topping it off was the two destroying Strowman’s windshield with a golf club and baseball bat. Strowman’s reaction to his car’s state was reminiscent of Sid Vicious during his feud with Goldberg. In other words, I laughed at the overacting.

Then we had the traditional “Braun Strowman tipping over a heavy object” segment that was so prevalent during his feud with Roman Reigns a couple of years ago. Instead of just, I don’t know, escaping the van and running away, our two antagonists idiotically stayed in the van to be tipped over, even though there was plenty of time for them to escape.

Was it necessary? No. Maybe it’s just me, but knowing my opponent outweighs my partner and I by essentially the weight of another wrestler and has the height/power advantage, I would be trying my hardest to physically compromise him before our match next Sunday.

Instead, they think their best path to victory is by making the “Monster among Men” angry. Yeah, they’re not portrayed as very intelligent, huh?

Whatever the case, we’re barrelling towards a handicap match for the top title on the show. What happens if The Miz and Morrison win? I really don’t want to find out. Can we just have The Fiend actually appear already?

Down: still not sold on using Hardy’s sobriety issues in yet another angle

Down: who else but Sheamus?

I’m not going to belabor the point too much after last week, but just no: why even have the fans think for a moment that Hardy may have relapsed after spending a month building his return, including a video about his battles with sobriety and substance abuse?

To the promo, look, Hardy has never been a good promo even with that “it” factor that caused Jim Ross to name him “The Charismatic Enigma.” I guess he’s an enigma on the mic, and though he was trying to stress that he was anguished, the up-and-down tone of his promo last night made for a difficult listen.

Also, we all pretty much knew who the actual culprit was while the segment played out last week, but they’re still trying to swerve us a bit. I know Tom Colohue isn’t sold on Sheamus being the attacker (and pointing the finger at a certain “Monster among Men”), but most of us are; how many red-haired and red-bearded men are in WWE?

(My immediate guess was the dastardly twin brother of the released Erick Rowan, Merick Rowan! Then I remembered he’s entirely fictional.)

The only other men’s wrestler on the brand that might fit the description is Kane if they mistook his fiery aura and literal fire emanating from “The Big Red Machine” as hair and a beard.

Maybe they end up re-signing Rowan (the real one, not Merick) and have him be the attacker, but why? If anything, wouldn’t he want to gain some revenge on Bryan for dismissing him like a principal to a lectured student (minus the face slapping)? He actually made Bryan’s path easier…let’s just forget Bryan still ended up wrestling and putting his spot in the finals on the line.

Back to the feud, and Sheamus is also still acting like he didn’t cause the scene from last week. He should be acting this way though, since he’s a heel and he setup what appeared to have been attempted vehicular homicide. His line about Hardy’s family was definitely a heel line, but again, why use Hardy’s issues to draw heat? It’s astounding at the same time it’s infuriating.

I’m not an addict, but I have heard passionate and rightfully angry comments directed at this angle. I can’t imagine what it feels like to have your own substance issues thrust into your face while watching something you don’t expect to be reminded of your issues. Hearing from people with substance abuse issues helped me contextualize it more, and I was already upset at the angle beforehand.

With Hardy vs. Sheamus announced for Backlash, I hope we can put this story and Hardy’s substance issues-as-wrestling angle behind us, and move forward into the twilight of Hardy’s career focusing on the wrestler.

Smack: a wonderful match with a beautiful finish

Down: unadvertised with a meandering path to the match

As Fightful Wrestling tweeted last night, we had a little Talking Smack! reunion in the ring.

Both men delivered great promos that presented their contrasting visions for the Intercontinental Championship. Bryan, having had to relinquish the very title when he retired in 2015, wants to do what he intended then: restore the prestige of the championship. This time, he’s pulling a Cody and wants to defend it every week so fans tuning into SmackDown know they’re going to have a fantastic Intercontinental Championship match every week.

Styles reiterated his intelligence by reminding everyone he took a bye to the finals, a smart move to not only save your body from punishment, but saving yourself a loss, too. When he looks into the mirror, he sees the best WWE Champion we’ve ever seen.

Then we have some more of the intentional-but-not-intentional messaging about real world events. Bryan said the two have “entirely different worldviews,” which is accurate both in kayfabe and real life.

Bryan, as when he was the “Planet’s Champion,” is a environmentalist and progressive to the core. Styles is a religious conservative and noted homophobe (the first part is fine, the last part is not). Styles accentuated his conservative beliefs when he told Bryan, “I don’t believe in handouts.” I guess I shouldn’t mention how the majority of government benefits, aka “handouts,” are for lower-class White people?

Styles believes in “earning” what you have, and chided Drew Gulak for having “earned” his way to being Bryan’s coach. Guess what? After all that, he gave a “handout” to Gulak! He said he would reach across the table (there we go again) and turn that handout into “an ass whooping.”

The match, while short, was fun. I particularly like the ending not because of Gulak winning or using a leverage pin, but because of the detail he added of using his hands to add more pressure to the shoulders, making the pin even more believable. Very well done, and just another example of the little things that help make Gulak such an amazing technical wrestler.

Also, nice tweet, Gulak.

What I didn’t like is this was a non-advertised match with little heat considering Gulak was most recently entangled with Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. I know, considering it only went five minutes, that’s probably for the best, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that WWE too often relies on the “card subject to change” clause.

Had this match been advertised, pure/hardcore and casual wrestling fans would have most likely been interested considering the technical greatness of Gulak and elevated status he’s received since partnering with Bryan, and Styles just being overall, well, phenomenal. There may have been added intrigue from viewers speculating if a victory would earn Gulak a spot in the finals and make it a triple threat match.

I don’t think that’s the case, though I wouldn’t mind it. Regardless of who wins, it looks like Gulak may be the first title challenger. Booking Gulak to defeat Styles last night gives him an advantage he can invoke and tease Styles with, basically forcing Styles to give him the match out of pride and humiliation.

A Bryan victory would be a rematch of the first round, but also one where the story can be told of either the coach (Gulak) pulling out tricks he didn’t teach the student (Bryan), or the student proving too talented for the coach’s tricks. It should be another fun match, regardless.

Next week, we crown a new Intercontinental Champion. My prediction of Hardy was wrong, so I’ll go with Styles only because he was so hyped as the newest acquisition it would kind of deaden his momentum if he loses.

With one more week until Backlash, it will be interesting to see if any more matches are added from SmackDown. Will the winner of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament defend two nights later, and who will it be? Let’s find out together next week, everyone!