Five Awesome Thoughts from SmackDown Live 12.27.2016:
New Tag Team Champs! -- Too soon?
La Luchadora Part 2! -- But do we care?
Miz v Ambrose! -- Real life relationships collide?
Carmella and Ellsworth! -- The next WWE power couple?
Cena Returns! -- To make history, or fill a space in it?
SmackDown Live, once again, was the better show of the week. It is easier to write for two hours than it is for three, however, so they may always have that advantage over their Monday evening counterpart.
As per usual, I have some awesome thoughts about the show, and they are as follows:
NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!
American Alpha are your new SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions, but I believe this was done too soon. A good babyface title run needs to be surrounded with a good storyline, something this title vicotry did not.This means that a storyline will need to come post-victory, and will likely be wrapped around the revenge of The Wyatt Family. While that could be good, if the Wyatts do not regain their titles, then the only place for them to go without stalling the character is for the break up of Orton and Bray Wyatt, which I believe is going too well to end.
I would have waited to put the belts on American Alpha after the Wyatt Family had a few more feuds, something that could have been easily accomplished with the tag team roster on SmackDown Live.
LA LUCHADORA RETURNS!
Becky Lynch vs Alexa Bliss is BORING and it has been for some time. The only entertaining thing to happen in this feud in a while is La Luchadora; a nondescript made-up masked character that will likely go nowhere.
I think we can still salvage this if we utilize La Luchadora one more time, have a third lady be under the hood to set up the next feud. I would have La Luchadora appear again, only to be revealed as Natalya.
Natalya is coming off her hottest reaction, likely ever, with this Nikki Bella feud, but let's be honest, pretty much no one cares about that either, so have her come out and destroy both Becky and Alexa, leading to a Triple Threat, where La Luchadora wins the title and reveals herself to be Natalya.
I think this would then lead to a good face contender to diss on Nattie for needing to hide her true identity and pretend to be someone else to be good enough to win the title, and Nattie gets a good run with the belt, which she certainly looks like she can do a good job with as of late.
I think we can still salvage this if we utilize La Luchadora one more time, have a third lady be under the hood to set up the next feud. I would have La Luchadora appear again, only to be revealed as Natalya.
Natalya is coming off her hottest reaction, likely ever, with this Nikki Bella feud, but let's be honest, pretty much no one cares about that either, so have her come out and destroy both Becky and Alexa, leading to a Triple Threat, where La Luchadora wins the title and reveals herself to be Natalya.
I think this would then lead to a good face contender to diss on Nattie for needing to hide her true identity and pretend to be someone else to be good enough to win the title, and Nattie gets a good run with the belt, which she certainly looks like she can do a good job with as of late.
RENEE YOUNG INJECTED INTO THE MIZ/AMBROSE STORYLINE!
WWE has acknowledged the real-life relationship between Dean Amborse and Renee Young and I think this is perfect for the Miz vs Dean Ambrose storyline. We now have two real-life relationships presenting themselves in a storyline that helps make it more believable.
Also, this fits the Miz perfectly to be a tattle tale by revealing Dean and Renee's until now "secret" relationship. I would dig into this as far as possible, even so much as Miz falsely accusing Dean of being unfaitful, which leads Renee to question their relationship and turn heel on Dean, helping Miz to retain his IC title, and leading into Dean's next feud with whomever Renee begins to run around with afterwards.
More reality, especially with relationships, infused into the WWE storylines can only help these days where we we seemingly know everything about the Superstars' personal lives.
Also, this fits the Miz perfectly to be a tattle tale by revealing Dean and Renee's until now "secret" relationship. I would dig into this as far as possible, even so much as Miz falsely accusing Dean of being unfaitful, which leads Renee to question their relationship and turn heel on Dean, helping Miz to retain his IC title, and leading into Dean's next feud with whomever Renee begins to run around with afterwards.
More reality, especially with relationships, infused into the WWE storylines can only help these days where we we seemingly know everything about the Superstars' personal lives.
CARMELLA LIKES ELLSWORTH!?!
This is another "relationship" type angle, but I think this could work beautifully as it can add depth to both Carmella and James Ellsworth.
Obviously the easy story to tell here is that Carmella is somehow using James to weasel her way into something, we just don't quite know what yet. This will set up Carmella as an evil, scheming personality, using people as pawns, and gets Ellsworth some more sympathy.
I definitely think that is exactly how the story should begin, but by the end of it, I would twist it and have Carmella actually start seeing great qualities in Ellsworth, and begin to question how she actually feels about him. Then, when we're least expecting it; Ellsworth's terrible decision making and judgements arise again as HE uses Carmella as a pawn to try to gain some advantage, only to have it backfire and blow up in his face, leaving him the loveable loser, and Carmella gets sympathy and perhaps a good face run out of it.
Obviously the easy story to tell here is that Carmella is somehow using James to weasel her way into something, we just don't quite know what yet. This will set up Carmella as an evil, scheming personality, using people as pawns, and gets Ellsworth some more sympathy.
I definitely think that is exactly how the story should begin, but by the end of it, I would twist it and have Carmella actually start seeing great qualities in Ellsworth, and begin to question how she actually feels about him. Then, when we're least expecting it; Ellsworth's terrible decision making and judgements arise again as HE uses Carmella as a pawn to try to gain some advantage, only to have it backfire and blow up in his face, leaving him the loveable loser, and Carmella gets sympathy and perhaps a good face run out of it.
SUPER CENA IS BACK!
John Cena returns and demands a title shot simply because he's John Cena and he can do that. Well, isn't that exactly what we all hate about John Cena's character?
It is. Perhaps that's the road the WWE is trying to lead us down. Perhaps they see the popular support for the Phenomenal AJ Styles and the ever-growing disdain for John Cena. Perhaps they believe that we can continue to have John Cena hating on everything that is the New Era, including the fans and their support for guys like AJ.
Perhaps they do the unthinkable, the unbelievable, and do an epic double-turn and have John Cena finally be the bad guy we have all wanted for a decade.
Perhaps I'm dreaming and Cena is just here to fill time between movie and reality TV roles, and the WWE feels like there could be no bigger draw than to have Cena headline the Royal Rumble.
Something (read: history) tells me it's the latter.
It is. Perhaps that's the road the WWE is trying to lead us down. Perhaps they see the popular support for the Phenomenal AJ Styles and the ever-growing disdain for John Cena. Perhaps they believe that we can continue to have John Cena hating on everything that is the New Era, including the fans and their support for guys like AJ.
Perhaps they do the unthinkable, the unbelievable, and do an epic double-turn and have John Cena finally be the bad guy we have all wanted for a decade.
Perhaps I'm dreaming and Cena is just here to fill time between movie and reality TV roles, and the WWE feels like there could be no bigger draw than to have Cena headline the Royal Rumble.
Something (read: history) tells me it's the latter.
You can hear more of my awesome thoughts on pro-wrestling each and every week by listening to The Spanish Announce Table Podcast where my co-host T-Mac and I discuss all the hottest topics of the week.
- Captain Awesome