The latest wave of WWE departures is centered around one of the most important tag teams and factions in modern company history: The New Day. According to Fightful, Bodyslam and Sean Ross Sapp, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods have departed WWE, with Tonga Loa and JC Mateo also exiting the company in the same wave. … Read more
The SmackDown After Mania should have felt like a reset. Instead, it felt like a company trying to convince itself it had momentum while terrible WWE release news hung over the entire night. As mentioned in my LNC Wrestling article on the WWE releases, that news broke right before SmackDown went on the air last … Read more
WWE had three hours, the WrestleMania stage, a loaded roster, and one final chance to make the blue brand feel essential heading into the biggest weekend of the year. Instead, last night’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown felt like a show that kept teasing urgency without ever fully committing to it. Randy Orton finally delivered the … Read more
WWE brings the blue brand to Las Vegas tonight for WrestleMania SmackDown, and this show has a lot more pressure on it than a normal go-home episode. On paper, there is enough here to make the night feel important. Cody Rhodes gets one last chance to speak before facing Randy Orton, Jacob Fatu has to … Read more
Last night’s WWE Monday Night RAW was the red brand’s go-home show for WrestleMania 42, and it felt like WWE trying to sell this weekend on tension, talking points, and final angles more than pure wrestling. Some of that worked. Lyra Valkyria and Charlotte Flair opened with a really strong match, Liv Morgan and Stephanie … Read more
SmackDown last night was supposed to feel like the blue brand’s hard final push before WrestleMania 42, the penultimate stop before next Saturday and Sunday in Las Vegas. Instead, it was a show that constantly felt like it was fighting its own momentum. There was good wrestling on the episode. Bayley and Alexa Bliss put … Read more
Two weeks before WrestleMania 42, last night’s SmackDown should have been about tightening the blue brand’s biggest stories, raising the stakes, and making the road to WrestleMania feel urgent. Instead, it often felt like a show working against itself. The headline angle gave Randy Orton’s mystery caller reveal to Pat McAfee, who low-blowed Cody Rhodes … Read more
Last night’s SmackDown was a show that spent most of its two hours flirting with frustration before finally finding its bite. For long stretches, this was a serviceable WrestleMania build built on shaky character logic, rushed contender decisions, and storylines that too often feel like they are moving in circles instead of building with purpose. … Read more
Last night on SmackDown, WWE tried to sell Elimination Chamber with volatility: Jey Uso taken out before the bell, the Men’s Chamber field collapsing into a shouting match, a “winner takes the final spot” main event, and a Women’s Tag Team Championship change clearly designed to unburden Rhea Ripley before she steps into the Chamber … Read more
Last week’s SmackDown had the kind of “we’re doing business, not vibes” energy that tends to split the room in real time. A big chunk of the audience and reviewers applauded how efficiently the show advanced the Road to Elimination Chamber—Trick Williams finally getting a defining win, Kiana James stealing a spot in a way … Read more
