There were 3 things we hated and 3 things we loved

Greetings from Wrestling Inc. ‘s weekly analysis of “WWE SmackDown,” the main event following WrestleMania! After all, while “Raw after ‘Mania” included John Cena and a few “NXT” call-ups, it was on “SmackDown” that we witnessed the first-ever appearance of a highly sought-after free agent in the WWE. Monday, it appears that Friday took the limelight away from you. Talk about it.

Well, we always say that we can’t cover the entire show, but this time we’re covering even less because two WINC writers have different opinions about certain parts of the show. As per usual, you should visit our “SmackDown” results page if you’re looking for a thorough analysis of everything that occurred on this week’s episode of blue brand programming. This space asks, “What did we really think about the show Friday night?” With that in mind, here are three things about the 4/12 episode of “WWE SmackDown” that we loved, and three things that we hated. “.

Pepperidge Farm recalls the day Cameron Grimes defeated Baron Corbin in seven seconds to make his main roster debut.

Grimes should have had a major push after making his “SmackDown” debut. He triumphed over Ashante “Thee” Adonis the following week. From then on, TV defeats by Austin Theory and Grayson Waller were combined with a steady diet of dark matches. He participated in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal last week. Bron Breakker, Corbin’s tag team partner, leveled the score on Friday by defeating Grimes once more.

Fortunately, WWE at least realized that the former Million Dollar Champion had left “WWE NXT.”. With his “To the MOON!” catchphrase and his top hat-wearing, crypto-rich guy persona, Grimes made a fool of himself in “NXT.”. They didn’t even give him a chance to try, even though he wasn’t a major roster player. He has continuously been overlooked and undervalued. How many saw him compete in the ring on “SmackDown” and were reminded of his incredible main roster debut? How many people even remembered him?

Too talented to be booked so sporadically is Cameron Grimes. If we are truly in a new era, let some underutilized talent take center stage and make their case.

By Samantha Schipman, author.

Everything about the first portion of this segment was fantastic. In addition to loving that Bayley is receiving flowers, I adore her as the WWE Women’s Champion. Almost as importantly, after years of her playing a heel character alongside Damage CNTRL, I’m happy that the fans are once again supporting her as a babyface. I also enjoyed the music that Tiffany Stratton played during her celebration. I really like Stratton, partly because, pardon my judgment, it doesn’t seem like she should be this good in the ring. Her style reminds me of the “Divas Era,” but it works because she’s so talented. And Naomi! I’m so happy that Naomi is also receiving flowers. She just won a title match with her real-life friend at WrestleMania after dominating as a tag team with Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill. Naomi was given the cold shoulder by Bayley, who informed Stratton that although she wasn’t going to make an official challenge, she already had Naomi in mind.

Naomi told Bayley she wasn’t prepared for a title fight until she defeated Stratton, looking formidable as a combative challenger. It was excellent for Stratton’s character to make fun of Naomi before the match by saying that “she couldn’t even win a title if it glowed in the dark” and informing her that she had already defeated her. Because both ladies are outstanding employees and fit into their respective roles perfectly, the match itself was fantastic.

To be honest, I wasn’t too thrilled with the way the match concluded. Although I don’t usually go for it, I’m glad Naomi won the roll-up match and can now challenge her friend in what I believe will be a great babyface versus babyface match. For me, it was a little anti-climactic. Stratton appeared strong despite the dull conclusion, and she can definitely pose a serious threat to Bayley in the future. Despite getting rolled up and pinched, she did a great job of recovering from missing her prettiest moonsault ever, getting back on her feet, and even making fun of Naomi.

Being young, Stratton is still a relatively new addition to the starting lineup. She had a great opportunity to shine at Elimination Chamber, and there is still plenty of time for her, but I would have preferred to see her on WrestleMania this year. As the Knockouts Champion, Naomi demonstrated her mettle in Impact, and at this stage of her career, she is far more worthy of the opening shot at Bayley. Even though Friday night may not have been “Tiffy Time,” I can already feel the glow coming on when she faces off against Bayley in the future.

Composed by Daisy Ruth.

Fans instantly embraced Tiffany Stratton when she joined the WWE main roster, coinciding with Elimination Chamber. She defeated Naomi in the Chamber, where she was utterly adored by the Perth, Australia audience, and then paid it forward the following week on “SmackDown.”. Therefore, it makes sense for her to reclaim the victory tonight, all right. However, WWE managed to pull a fast one by having Stratton appear as the first challenger to the recently crowned WWE Women’s Champion Bayley. However, the champ later revealed that Naomi was her other opponent, and Naomi quickly challenged and defeated Stratton to earn a spot against Bayley the following week.

Naturally, this has a built-in plot since there’s a 177 percent chance that Stratton will hurt Naomi in the match the following week, and the two will undoubtedly continue to feud for some time after that. And not to belittle Naomi either. Her 2023 Royal Rumble comeback was a heartwarming event that touched everyone, including yours truly. As the kids say, “Samesies” to Bayley for winning the title at WrestleMania, which was among my favorite moments of the whole weekend.

Now let’s get serious: It’s Tiffy time! Let’s get started and let Tiffany Stratton win every match and title going forward because she is HER. (Excessive “love” within a “Hate” entry: comprehensive. (There has been a lot of talk about eras lately.) I would have really loved for Friday night to have been the beginning of the Stratton Era, but we all know that will happen soon. With all sincerity, I must admit that in my thirty-five plus years of watching professional wrestling, not many people have adapted to the sport as rapidly as Stratton has. It should astonish you that, according to Cagematch, she has 45 televised matches to her name. She is that talented and will only get better.

You know what else will be fantastic? Naomi vs. Bayley, and all subsequent developments. Watching WWE right now is undoubtedly entertaining.

Composed by Jon Jordan.

I was prepared to be utterly disgusted by this promo for The Bloodline when it first started. It seemed to be shaping up to be just another promotional video, with Paul Heyman essentially just taking responsibility for Roman Reigns’ loss of the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to Cody Rhodes and rehashing the key moments from the match. Nothing was said to further any kind of plot.

But my perspective on things changed the moment Tama Tonga appeared to ambush Jimmy Uso with an attack.

Given the Bloodline’s emphasis on perseverance and winning, it makes perfect sense that Jimmy Uso would share some of the blame for ruining Roman Reigns’ match. It was the ideal way for Tonga to make his WWE debut by attacking Jimmy because it made him look like a true monster and made him a major player going forward. Solo Sikoa has played the lead role in The Bloodline until now, but with each passing week, he is assuming a more speaking role and evolving into a new role overall. It is very clever of WWE to introduce a new monster in order to fulfill Sikoa’s character arc. It was an amazing way to introduce Tonga to the WWE Universe and it put him in a great position because he didn’t have to start from scratch because he had already established himself in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and because WWE was pushing “a new era.”. “.

by Olivia Quinlan.

With a sneak attack that took out Jimmy Uso and held him down until Samoan Spike from Solo Sikoa was publicly executed, Tama Tonga provided the answer to the question that all devoted Bloodline fans have been asking: is he going to join the WWE to stand with The Bloodline? During a backstage interview that took place soon after the attack, Tonga mentioned the “orders from the Tribal Chief” while leaning close to Paul Heyman’s terrified face, giving him only two centimeters of space. This suggests that Tonga was acting at Heyman’s surprise, presumably on Roman Reings’s (or is he?) orders.

This also happened with Sikoa; as soon as they’re absorbed into The Bloodline, people with a promising career path suddenly need to give up whatever flavor they had in order to become another cog in The Bloodline’s machine. It’s quite amazing how Tonga can go from seven-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, four-time NEVER Openweight champion, and one-time Ring of Honor World Tag Team Champion, all to play second fiddle to Roman Reigns (or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, or Sikoa, or whoever is calling themselves the Tribal Chief now). The downgrade that is Sikoa’s from “NXT” street fighter to “guy who Samoan Spikes people at the behest of others” on the main roster should be examined, and Tonga is essentially making the same moves.

Sikoa and Tonga are inanimate objects. Sikoa is only now beginning to have goals of his own, 587 days after making his main roster debut; they lack personality and taste. Character-wise, things don’t seem good for Tonga. (And possibly even in terms of his profession, since without a character to fall back on when The Bloodline eventually implodes, where would he go?)). I am aware of Tonga’s recent arrival to the WWE and his rational and prudent loyalty to The Bloodline. Still, even though his affiliation with The Bloodline is beneficial to his career, I detest, detest, detest how it reduces him to just being a family man. Giving him a personality wouldn’t have been catastrophic for WWE. Since Naomi is still very much her own person and has a radiant personality despite being married to Jimmy Uso, it wouldn’t have even killed WWE to book him outside of The Bloodline.

In Solo Sikoa 2: Electric Boogaloo, WWE has downgraded a multiple champion, well-known tag-team wrestler, and global celebrity. Happy dance.

Authored by Angeline Phu.

It almost seems disrespectful to say that LA Knight’s victory over AJ Styles surprised a lot of people with how good it was, especially during a WrestleMania weekend that was essentially highlight after highlight on all three cards. Well done, Knight. The victory over Styles, a real made man, at WWE’s iconic event put a big feather in his cap. For the former Eli Drake, his time on the main roster (after Max Dupri, of course) has been fantastic thus far. Knight’s victory on Friday night’s “SmackDown” over Bobby Lashley and Santos Escobar in a triple threat match elevated him even more, setting him up for a potential backlash match for Cody Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE Championship. Styles, the other triple threat, won a fantastic match against both Rey Mysterio and Kevin Owens. Next week, they will rematch to determine who advances to face Rhodes. Though it makes perfect sense, that’s probably not good news for Knight. However, for us viewers, it’s fantastic news!

It is inevitable that tires will lose, but that is okay. He won’t be hurt in the slightest and might even become more saline as a result, and from there, he has lots of options. Knight, on the other hand, is still in that mid-to-high-level category where he will be well for a very long time. And with the WWE Draft quickly approaching, who knows? Perhaps he switches to “Raw” and challenges Damian Priest or the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the future. In general, I believe that is a better fit for “The Megastar.”. “.

Authored by Jon Jordan.