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2 things that went wrong on the May 27 episode of SmackDown

By Christopher Jeter

Ronda Rousey briefly takes the hand of four-year-old Weldon Samford, sitting on the lap of his mother Tammy, after her match during Saturday's WWE Live wrestling event Jan. 19, 2019. Held at the Taylor County Coliseum, the evening featured a colorful array of World Wrestling Entertainment stars.0123wwe001
Ronda Rousey briefly takes the hand of four-year-old Weldon Samford, sitting on the lap of his mother Tammy, after her match during Saturday's WWE Live wrestling event Jan. 19, 2019. Held at the Taylor County Coliseum, the evening featured a colorful array of World Wrestling Entertainment stars.0123wwe001 /
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This SmackDown show truly feels like the sort of program that networks like to air on Friday nights: A uneventful offering that’s designed to easily fill two hours of screen time and has a faithful, built-in weekly audience. Oh, and that’s with Roman Reigns appearing on the telecast.

Without him, SmackDown exposes how much of an SEO-centered content mill WWE has become. Most of the matches mean little in terms of a wrestler’s journey to whatever accolade they’re pursuing, and the stories themselves give the audience almost no reason to emotionally invest.

This episode of SmackDown, specifically, exhibited plenty of the traits that contribute to this malaise.

These are two things that went wrong on the May 27 episode of SmackDown.

Everything involving the SmackDown Women’s division

Despite WWE’s efforts to besmirch Sasha Banks and Naomi’s names, it’s clear how much those two anchored the SmackDown distaff division. If you’re (somehow) still unsure about that fact, then allow these last three weeks of segments and matches featuring the rest of the women on the brand.

Because WWE has no other credible opponents for SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, it booked her to face Raquel Rodriguez in the always-dumb Championship Contender’s match, and that it came two weeks after Rodriguez had already lost a championship match to Rousey as part of the champ’s open challenge. Of course, it makes you wonder why Ronda couldn’t just put her title on the line again against Rodriguez, but it is what it is.

Worse yet, the match ended in a DQ finish after Shayna Baszler and Natalya — who were shown going to the ring after Shotzi prodded them about not getting a title shot — attacked Rousey and Rodriguez. Evoking Teddy Long, this turned into a tag match that the babyfaces won after Rodriguez pinned Baszler.

This match and the skit where Aliyah locked Shotzi in the locker room show how dire things are for the SmackDown women. Shotzi’s anger over getting passed over is preposterous given the frequency of her losses (and she’s miscast as a heel), Aliyah is only slightly higher in the pecking order, and Natalya and Baszler have long been pigeonholed as utility acts (albeit reliable ones).

Add in a champion that, star power aside, isn’t equipped to elevate the pieces around her, and you have a serious mess of a division.

Jinder Mahal and Shanky vs. Los Lotharios

A heel vs. heel tag team match featuring two duos that lose about as much as the 2022 Cincinnati Reds do. If WWE hadn’t aired that angle where Jinder Mahal caught Shanky dancing to Jinder’s entrance music — planting the seeds for a Shanky babyface turn — the fans would’ve reacted to this one more pathetically than they already did.

Next. 3 potential challengers for unified tag team champs The Usos. dark

As for the Shanky stuff, the crowd did react pretty well to his antics, so even though it may not be for everyone, it’s harmless enough and if it gets over, it gets over. However, with the company-wide lack of top babyfaces, is investing time in another goofy character necessary?