Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown comes at a very important point for the blue brand. WrestleMania 42 is in the rearview, Backlash is less than two weeks away on Saturday, May 9th, and WWE now has to prove that last week’s reset was not just a post-Mania burst of chaos. The biggest stories heading into … 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
Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown After Mania has the job of turning WrestleMania 42 fallout into the next chapter for the blue brand. This is not a show built around a stacked match card. It is built around consequences. Rhea Ripley arrives as the new WWE Women’s Champion, Trick Williams celebrates becoming United States Champion … 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 spent weeks building intrigue around Randy Orton’s mystery caller, only for the reveal of Pat McAfee to drag Cody Rhodes’ title feud into a sideshow that never fully clicked. The backlash was immediate, the complaints kept growing, and the focus drifted further away from the actual story. That is what made Cody Rhodes destroying … 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
Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown has a lot riding on it, and not just because WrestleMania 42 is around the corner. On paper, the blue brand should be in a strong position. The top matches are set, the stakes are clear, and the road to Las Vegas is supposed to be tightening into focus. Instead, … 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
SmackDown has reached the point on the road to WrestleMania 42 where it does not need to introduce its biggest stories anymore. It needs to sharpen them. That is what makes tonight feel important. Last week’s episode was less about delivering a wrestling-heavy spectacle and more about locking in the emotional temperature of the blue … Read more
Last night’s episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown was the kind of show that gave WWE plenty of headline moments while also leaving behind a lot of frustration once everything settled. On paper, the blue brand had a lot going for it. Sami Zayn won the United States Championship. Cody Rhodes returned. Jacob Fatu and … Read more
