3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

“Randy called me. He said ‘the business didn’t pass you by, it’s just gone in the direction that none of us like.'”

I’m well aware Pat McAfee was referring to the days of the Attitude Era during a conversation that himself and Randy Orton had on the phone off-screen, but it’s also a perfectly poetic way of summing up how I felt about this segment as my brain recovered trying to figure out what I had just watched and why it had happened.

First off, McAfee’s return to WWE programming and abrupt alliance with Orton was so incredibly out of left field. I know that WWE was going for shock value with his return, and while I think that they certainly achieved that, I don’t think it played out quite the way that they were hoping it would. It wasn’t a good surprise at all, and was a lot to take in all at once in the worst way possible.

Second, McAfee’s promo segment didn’t really feel like it was well thought out. WWE and the professional wrestling business as a whole have mostly moved away from the mentality that main eventers need to be big men. In my mind, it doesn’t really make sense for Orton or McAfee to all of a sudden be claiming that the professional wrestling business needs more big men like Orton when that’s had absolutely nothing to do with the storyline between Orton and Rhodes or all of the voices Orton’s been hearing in his head. It has nothing to do with anything, and just didn’t need to be part of any of this at all.

Third, this could not have more clearly been a desperate ploy from WWE to try driving up WrestleMania ticket sales with only weeks left before the Premium Live Event. They didn’t even try to hide it, with McAfee outright questioning how he didn’t know why WrestleMania 42 hadn’t been completely sold out when that didn’t really have anything to do with this entire segment otherwise.

Fourth, this segment is the perfect example of why much of the build to WrestleMania 42 has been absolutely atrocious. It’s been weeks upon weeks of similar segments with the same people until WWE decides to pull a completely random swerve out of nowhere as a means of trying to drive up fan interest in their product and the event on the whole. In my opinion, if WWE just put in as much time to properly telling a story as they do with these really random surprises, then they would have the same – if not a significantly better – outcome that would grab the attention of fans.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Look, I love Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY as a pairing, so the last thing I ever thought I’d do is complain about the two of them being back together. But it really makes zero sense.

First of all, WWE made a huge deal about the two of them being on separate brands now, and specifically about Ripley having to go up against Jade Cargill by herself. They had an entire promo segment about it. Now Cargill gets some goons behind her and IYO magically gets to come to “SmackDown” and be Rhea’s back-up? What changed?

Second of all, IYO has her own stuff going on over on “Raw,” which we saw as recently as this past Monday’s “Raw,” when she continued her storyline with Asuka and Kairi Sane. Neither Asuka or Sane was present Friday night, so what’s the status of that storyline now? Is IYO going to be on two shows — and possibly involved in two WrestleMania matches? Or has the Asuka/Sane storyline been cut from ‘Mania and/or dropped altogether? The most recent reporting indicated IYO vs. Asuka was “probable” for WrestleMania — does IYO’s appearance here mean that match is off? If so, that sucks. If not, why muddy the waters here?

Bottom line — as much as I love RHIYO, having them reunite on this episode did nothing but cause confusion, and is possibly a sign of one fewer women’s match on the ‘Mania card. I can’t do anything but hate it.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

While I initially wasn’t into this with the confusing first backstage segment, I ended up actually liking this tonight, because at the core of all of it, Tama Tonga finally seemed to start to talk some sense into Solo Sikoa. It’s not immediately clear if it’s actually going to work, because Sikoa mentioned “finishing” the Wyatt Sicks in their second backstage segment, but it was enough for me tonight.

I initially thought tonight’s match was supposed to be Sikoa vs. Uncle Howdy, so the first backstage segment confused me a bit, but this is where Tonga started to try and get it through to Sikoa that the lantern was the source of their troubles. I didn’t exactly like when Sikoa was basically like, “Oh, right? You fight for it then!” But ultimately, that clunky interaction led to Tonga losing the match, resulting in Howdy getting the lantern back. It wasn’t that easy, however, with Sikoa attempting to take it, but Tonga stepped up to him and told him to let it go, both figuratively and literally, and he took the lantern out of Sikoa’s hands for Howdy to retrieve it from ringside.

In the second segment with the MFTs of the night, Tonga once again reiterated to Sikoa that the lantern was tearing them apart and now that it was back with the Wyatt Sicks, they could focus on “taking over ‘SmackDown'” and taking all the titles. Sikoa agreed, but he did first say “let’s finish the Wyatts,” which I REALLY did not love, but the fact Tonga finally stepped up to Sikoa to attempt to force him to see how ridiculous this has all been for weeks is enough for me tonight, as someone who has been complaining endlessly about the length of this feud.

With what Sikoa said tonight, I fully expect this to go on for the next two weeks, culminating in whatever match on the “SmackDown” ahead of WrestleMania, but I do believe now that there is an end in sight. And, if it leads to a breakup within the faction, with Tonga going his own way, like we’ve seen hints of in recent weeks with his interactions with Shinsuke Nakamura, I am more than okay with that.

Written by Daisy Ruth

We’re inching closer to WrestleMania on this very long road. WWE has been struggling to sell tickets and the desperation is real. First, John Cena announced he’ll be hosting this year. “SmackDown” opened with the reveal of the person Randy Orton has been talking to for the last few weeks: Pat McAfee. He will presumably be on WWE television in the buildup to ‘Mania and cornering Orton for his match.

Later in the show, Trick Williams would come to the ring and bring rapper Lil Yachty with him. After informing the crowd how long they’d been friends, Williams invited him to the “Show of Shows”, which he accepted. While his exact role is unknown, it was reported yesterday that talks had been ongoing with him for some time.

Yes, McAfee is employed by WWE, he still qualifies as a celebrity. He was in the NFL, has a podcast, and works for ESPN; all things that came prior to working for WWE. He came in as a celebrity when he wrestled Adam Cole in “NXT.” Although he was absent tonight, Jelly Roll has been around for the last few weeks and even had a match last week. It appears that Jelly Roll and Kit Wilson may have a match at WrestleMania.

WWE has used celebrities for years for “The Showcase of the Immortals” and even had Travis Scott involved in a huge WrestleMania match that he had no business being involved in. WWE seems poised to do it again this year with either Lil Yachty getting involved in the men’s U.S. title match or McAfee involving himself in Orton’s match, especially because he has said if Orton loses, he’ll leave WWE TV for good. Some celebrity involvement is fine, but WWE uses it as a crutch throughout the year.

Ticket sales for “Mania are way down, even with multiple sales and lowering prices. Cena was clearly a ticket grab. This build to ‘Mania has been abysmal and the closer it gets, the more disinterested many fans are becoming. Not only is relying on celebrities a bad sign, it’s taking away spots from actual talent. Can’t find anything for Royce Keys to do, but Jelly Roll is getting plenty of time. Motor City Machine Guns and Street Profits were left off of last year’s card and will be left off again this year. Celebrities on wrestling shows have their place, but when it takes away from wrestlers getting matches and a big payday, then it’s a problem. Sadly, it’s not a problem that WWE or TKO seems to care about as long as they can sell a few more tickets.

Written by Samantha Schipman

“SmackDown” really needed some silliness tonight, and thankfully, we got that in the form of Danhausen, and not just in a backstage segment. I love that fact that R-Truth thought to give The Miz and Kit Wilson a shot at the WWE Tag Team Championships, because they both had been previously cursed by Danhausen, so it would be an easy defense for them. Damian Priest may not have been initially happy that his tag partner gave a title shot to an undeserving (and thrown together) team, but it ended up all working out for them in a funny and charming way.

Until tonight, if you watch both weekly shows in America, you haven’t seen Danhausen’s in-ring segments during commercial breaks, and those are also just silly t-shirt canon and merch-driving segments, from what I gather on social media. So, tonight was really the first time since Danhausen’s debut that he got in the ring and almost got physical.

He jumped up on the apron when Wilson was down and looked for Miz to tag him in, which was cute. It was Truth who would end up getting that tag, however, and when Danhausen went to curse Miz, he threw the referee in front of him instead. Bad move, of course, because when the referee went to count to three after Miz hit Truth with the Skull Crushing. Finale, his hand cramped up before he could hit the three and I just burst out laughing. It also didn’t hurt that Joe Tessitore, who I usually don’t care for, mentioned that the referee had to use his other hand when Priest hit the South of Heaven on Miz and he had to make another count.

As someone who was really not a fan of how “SmackDown” started tonight, which kind of put a damper on things for me, this cute, light-hearted appearance by Danhausen to back up Truth and Priest was what I needed. I really hope this is the start of more antics from Danhausen in front of fans after his initial debut fell flat. I think he’s proven himself about a million times over since then.

Written by Daisy Ruth

This week’s main event saw Sami Zayn facing Carmelo Hayes in a rematch of last week’s title bout, threatening a reverse result that would have all but spelled Zayn out of WrestleMania.

As nice as it would have been for Hayes to get a spot on the card, it would have been ever the more egregious to hand Zayn his spot and then rip it away just a week later. But the very idea of Hayes and Zayn wrestling on its own is a guarantee of a great match, there was an inventive way to keep Hayes’ claim to the title alive and ensure he didn’t look terrible in back-to-back defeats, while also avoiding the tried-and-tired trope of someone interfering.

Hayes tweaked his knee quite early on an outside dive, becoming the central theme of the match as he couldn’t execute much of his aerial offense without aggravating it. Naturally, he did go for aerial offense and did aggravate the injury, tweaking the knee once again as the referee got between the competitors to check on him.

This is where things got a little interesting on the road to WrestleMania, with Zayn using that opportunity to deliver a Helluva Kick and win the match. Now, rumors had been circulating that Zayn and Williams could be on their way to a double-turn, considering the immense popularity of the latter with the crowd – as well as the fact Zayn has all the justification to turn to the dark side.

Taking advantage of Williams’ inadvertent assist last week was one thing, there was a plausible deniability to all of it. But to take advantage of a very clear injury while the referee is checking on his opponent — that starts to cross deeper into the morally gray territory. Whether or not it does lead to a turn either way is besides the point, it’s the very adding of this wrinkle in the plot that struck me as interesting. There are plenty of good wrestling matches going around these days, and so rarely is there legitimate storytelling within the match that serves to build towards the future.

It was just cool to feel as though there was something more to come, something substantially enjoyable and compelling. I am interested to see what occurs next between the three of them; Hayes is not going to accept the defeat, as he shouldn’t; Zayn is starting to move a little more selfish pursuant to that very question he posed to Randy Orton a few weeks back; and Williams is aura-farming until he gets a well-deserved title run for his popularity. Good stuff all around.

Written by Max Everett