SMACKDOWN, MAY 11, 2024
CHAMP VS CHAMP
Logan Paul will be Cody Rhodes next championship challenger, in Saudi Arabia in two weeks. This means we will see the WWE Champion vs the US Champion. I’m never a huge fan of champions clashing, unless it’s a major point of the story, because one has to lose, and in most cases can ruin the value that the title holder and championship has. Especially now in a time where WWE has made great effort in making every championship important and prestigious in its own way. This is probably being done because they need a “name” to headline the big money Saudi show, and with only two weeks out from the show, feels very thrown together. However, it would be a mistake to throw away a potentially more important match in such a short space of time. Cody needs strong challengers. We don’t want it to get to the point where we know Cody will beat his challenger of the month, as we wait for The Rock to return for the “big one”. The promo segment between them was very good, and I have no doubt they will deliver more solid promo work and do their best to create interest in this match over the next two weeks.
THE NEW BLOODLINE
This new iteration of The Bloodline is starting to form its own identity and look. Solo, Tama Tonga, and Tonga Loa look extremely badass together and Tonga’s new music and tron add to his presentation. The story continues to slowly develop as Solo says he has spoken to Roman Reigns, and got his clearance to be in charge, as Paul Heyman becomes more of a hostage in the situation as the weeks go on. There are so many ways this can go, with at least a year's worth of stuff to work with. Roman is going to be a monster babyface when he returns based on the crowd reactions he's getting, with minimal prompting. I was expecting Tama Tonga to more or less squash Angelo Dawkins in his King of the Ring match, which didn’t happen. I would have liked to have seen him get a strong clean win in his singles TV debut. Tonga Loa is a bit of a wildcard. Anyone that has seen his last G1 Climax run in New Japan will have seen some incredibly poor in ring performances as he has struggled ever since a serious knee injury, so hopefully any ring rust is well shaken off by the time he's in the ring for WWE.
THE KINGS
Randy Orton vs AJ Styles was an outstanding TV main event between two of the best to ever do it. An amazing display of selling, psychology and making everything matter as Orton moves on to the next round. The US crowd even took some inspiration from the French fans and started singing Orton’s entrance theme.
Baron Corbin is a workrate guy now. Corbin was a major victim of some of the worst of Vince McMahon’s terrible booking in his final years in charge, and was a somewhat bland, one dimensional performer when the bell rang. But Corbin has grown massively during his recent NXT run and has added many new elements to his game, as well as feeling like a fresh part of the show after years of being overexposed to the audience. His match with Carmelo Hayes was a good outing for both as they both find their footing as new members of this Smackdown roster.
THE QUEENS
Piper Niven deserves huge credit for the part she played in Jade Cargill’s first competitive singles TV match. This was a great showing from Cargill, helped massively by the extremely underrated and seasoned Piper. This was a well booked match that only made Jade look like even more of an unstoppable powerhouse. She has to be the clear favourite to win the whole tournament.
Nia Jax vs Naomi was a match that over delivered based on my expectations. Neither are known for being technically great in ring workers, but this was a really well laid out match that played to boths strengths, and Naomi lost nothing in defeat.
Elsewhere Bianca Belair advanced in a short, but solid match with Candice LeRae, so overall this was a really strong night for the female side of the Smackdown roster.
I can be reached at matthewmacklin90@gmail.com
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!