By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Smackdown Hits
Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair for the Smackdown Women’s Championship: A match that should have taken place at WrestleMania so that Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch could have been the singles main event. Now that I have that out of my system, this was a very well worked match. The title change sets the stage for some interesting possibilities at WrestleMania. Will both titles be at stake? Will they merge the women’s championship and go with a single champion for the women’s division?
Big E and Xavier Woods run the gauntlet: The New Day duo worked well throughout the series of matches and managed to get the fans at ringside on their feet the deeper they went. The Usos coming out and forfeiting out of respect for New Day was a great touch. I had a hard time getting invested in the storyline, though, as it just seemed so unlikely to me that Kofi Kingston would finally get the WrestleMania title shot because his buddies won a match. And even after they won, I was waiting for Vince McMahon to point out that he said Kingston would go to WrestleMania, but he never said anything about him being in the WWE Championship.
The Miz and Shane McMahon: A minor Hit for a decent segment and the logical announcement of their WrestleMania match becoming a falls count anywhere match. Where will they brawl to so that Shane can leap from a tall structure? Anyway, Miz is holding up his end of things. Shane is a solid heel promo, but there’s still something missing in terms of why he opted to turn on Miz specifically.
WWE Smackdown Misses
Vince McMahon and New Day opening: The New Day portion of the opening segment was solid. It’s been refreshing to see them break out of the happy go lucky routine now that the storyline calls for it. Vince just isn’t the performer he once was.
Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles: A disappointing finish to a brief match. I get the idea of not having Angle work a long match, but the match lasting less than three minutes was just plain unsatisfying. And this didn’t strike me as the type of interference that put any real heat on Randy Orton. Here’s hoping they make up for this by booking Angle vs. Orton for next week’s show.
Check below for the new Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast with Jason Powell and guest Eric Bischoff discussing whether there are similarities in Vince McMahon’s WWE booking and Verne Gagne’s booking of the AWA during its dying days, a network shakeup that could potentially be an issue for All Elite Wrestling, Eric’s WrestleMania week show with Tony Schiavone in New York New York, and much more.
Poor Asuka has been lost in the shuffle for so long now. After she lost, she was seen smiling and cheering on The New Day. It is like she didn’t care that she lost the championship. If she doesn’t care, why should the fans care?
The fact that she’s not really able to carry a promo segment makes her a poor fit for main roster WWE. I’m not surprised she’s gotten lost in the shuffle. I agree with you though- if she doesn’t care she lost the title, why should we? It’s about presentation.
They really should turn Asuka heel though, and pair her with a manager. That’d cover her only weak point. She should’ve been turned instead of Becky, when they had Becky “turn”. I remember her posting a picture with a heelish look, and thinking how money she could be.
That was a much better gauntlet match for me than last week, mainly because as it went on, it did feel like it could go either way, whereas it was too obvious last week that Kofi was going to get screwed, making the whole thing a waste of time. I was hoping the final team would be a reunited Bludgeon Brothers, but you can’t have everything.
Also, Asuka should quit and go somewhere that appreciates her. Vince is probably just pissed off that she is already called Asuka so he can’t shorten her name any more.
“refreshing to see them break out of the happy to lucky routine”