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Let me be honest for a minute here, dear readers. Usually, it's the other way around where RAW and SmackDown Live after WrestleMania overshadow the actual show. They feel like a breath of fresh air and a welcome change after the year of wrestling that was. This year, WrestleMania overshadowed the two shows that followed.
I mean at least RAW (Raw results) had a little cameo from The Undertaker and Dean Ambrose's exit to boast of. Literally, nothing of note happened during the course of SmackDown Live this week, I thought. It almost felt like WWE creative was tired after an extremely exhausting week.
I suppose WWE is saving the big surprises for the Superstar Shake-Up next week. To be honest, that really sounds a lot more interesting than what we were served this week.
Here's the best and worst of the show this week...
#1 Best: The return of Paige
I am a fan of just about any storyline that keeps you guessing about what's going to happen on the following show. Paige was in attendance at SmackDown Live, and she seemed to be scouting The IIconics as they defeated a local enhancement talent team. The match was over before it even began.
To be fair, I don't think Corey Graves gets enough credit for just how hilarious he can be when given the chance. He got the names of the local competitors wrong on more than one occasion, buying them in quite a hilarious manner. That was the high point of the match, truth be told.
But then Paige mentioned that she will be bringing in a team of her own, and the stakes changed forever. Who do you think it will be?
The Superstar Shake-Up should be quite thrilling!
#1 Worst: The underwhelming main event match
The problem with any babyface realizing his destiny at WrestleMania has traditionally been the inability of WWE to book the same guy after WrestleMania is done. Sure, Kofi Kingston reached the top of the mountain at WrestleMania and now, there should have been a barrage of opponents hot on his trail.
Yes, WWE can certainly script the story of the underdog reaching all the way to the mountaintop but once the guy is there, the only way is down. I mean everyone in the locker room should have been baying for the most prestigious prize in the business on the night after WrestleMania.
And yet, there was a nondescript main event match that nobody in the building seemed to care for. The work was fine, but unless you have a storyline, why should the crowd really care?
The main event was a bust. Comment if you disagree with me.
#2 Best: New SmackDown Tag Team Champions
I've already written another article on this topic, so what I'll do is keep it short and sweet for the time being, I suppose. I thought that The Hardy Boyz winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championships was a pretty good thing. And this is because The Usos are almost certainly heading to RAW.
RAW's tag team division needs much more of a boost than the SmackDown Live Tag Team Division does, truth be told. The Hardyz are legends and with them holding the gold, the division is no less prestigious than when The Usos held it. Which is why I'm going to go ahead and say that this is a 'best', and perhaps the best thing that happened during the course of the show.
Matt Hardy looks to be in great shape now and is moving better too. Jeff Hardy wrestles like he's 25 even now.
#2 Worst: Burying the champions immediately
Remember what I said about Kofi Kingston realizing his destiny, only for WWE to not know what to do with him immediately after? Multiply that by ten and you have the Hardy Boyz-Lars Sullivan scenario. This was just absolutely shameful.
I was okay with Sullivan attacking Kurt Angle because he was on his way out and it would not have really made a difference to the legend. But by attacking two men who were the reigning champions, Lars Sullivan established himself as far superior to the entire tag team division. And there won't be any payoff either, because all the men concerned are on different brands.
Lars Sullivan's segment only happened so that the crowd could pop for the moment, and it caused irreparable damage to the Hardy Boyz' win. The main headline is no longer their win anymore, but the fact that Sullivan demolished both the champions.
#3 Best: The Samoa Joe-Braun Strowman mini confrontation
Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman need one another and I shall elaborate as to why that is, in this section. The simple answer for the same is that Braun Strowman has been lost and directionless in the main roster, and this gives him a purpose.
As I keep saying, a champion is only as good as his challengers. Samoa Joe had a squash match at WrestleMania and he needs a real competitor to work against.
Both of the men in this equation are physically imposing and they move super fast for two men of their size. Having Braun Strowman enter the US title picture can also build up the title because there is literally no heat around the championship right now.
Let's hope that the two men end up on the same brand and work a program with one another. I hope that's what this tease really meant.
#3 Worst: Worthless WrestleMania trophies
Why does WWE have 2 Battle Royals at WrestleMania, if the winners involved get no prize, no redemption and no storyline based on their win at all? It's not unlike the completely meaningless green belt that Braun Strowman received for winning the Greatest Royal Rumble.
Carmella should have automatically received a shot at Becky Lynch owing to the fact that she scored such a massive victory at WrestleMania 35. The same should have been true for Braun Strowman who should have used the trophy to challenge Samoa Joe to a US Championship match down the line.
Instead, Carmella was just a pretty face in a segment that was a setup for Samoa Joe to come down and attack R-Truth. Which was a setup for Braun Strowman to come down and clear Samoa Joe out of the squared circle.
And you wonder why people criticize the main roster!
#4 Best/worst: The Shane McMahon situation
Shane McMahon has shown us that he can be just as good a heel as he was a babyface. And he has done so quite seamlessly, bullying the ring announcer to call him the 'Best in the World' at every opportunity. I just thought that it was weird that nobody really stepped out to stop the guy from getting bullied. I just found the overall segment quite weird indeed.
Also does WWE not know that every 'Best in the World' segment would result in CM Punk chants? I thought that Shane McMahon handled himself quite well when he saw the catastrophe he'd caused. But couldn't WWE have thought of a better moniker for Shane McMahon when this was going to be such an obvious fallout from this live segment?
I'll tell you who the best in the world is, for sure. The Goddess, Alexa Bliss.
What do you guys think?
