The Smackers Thread

[Mr Butternut Squash]

The Wyatts are always going to be handcuffed to some degree because I can't imagine many guys who are not bottom rung wanting to work with them. They'll probably feud with the remains of Judgement Day for Wrestlemania before disappearing for another six months.

[TheScarlettChad]

Plus it just is a reminder that Bray is gone. And that still hurts. 

[Devon Malcolm]

When you hear the sentence "We're gonna hear from Gargano and Ciampa!" then you know it's going to be a tough evening.

Nah, it was an alright Smackdown. But compared to Raw, which always feels must-watch right now, Smackdown rarely does.

I'm not going to tire of how unbelievably over Jey Uso is. Imagine the reception he gets at Wrestlemania. Imagine how long his entrance will be. Night 1 should just be him doing encores. Jacob Fatu an absolute nutter in the ring and on the mic. This man does not need a manager.

Backstabber Belair is still very over but those fans are going to be so disappointed very soon. She doesn't even ask Aldis who murdered Jade Cargill anymore. @Supremo, you think Sami and Cody are shitty friends? This woman probably hasn't even Whatsapped Jade's family to ask when the funeral is.

A Katana Chance cameo. So she's not being cut then. Some good news at last.

Liked the ending of the Pretty Deadly / DIY match. They need to turn PD. But not lose the outfits, boys.

I've noticed they've now got The Miz doing the same act as Karrion Kross by acting as a backstage shit-stirrer. Lovely bit of joined together thinking. Maybe they'll rejoin forces again soon. Let's hope.

Drew McIntyre is pinching Happy Corbin's gimmick by trying to be all smiley. I liked the promos before this and I even didn't mind LA Shite's "get my stuff in" line. Match was ok.

Kevin Owens should get a Hertz sponsorship.

Charlotte Flair wisely went full heel again, although this time she came out in something she'll catch her death of cold in after being in a yellow raincoat on Raw. Much better from her, like the idea of her looking down her nose at both champions in different ways. They need to stop trying to have Tiffy clinging on to heeldom though, there's no need for it.

Alexa Bliss vs Candice LeRae never got going. The Street Profits video was SUPERB though, really looking forward to them coming back, they're always good fun.

Solo Sikoa's back? Already? Why? Cody Rhodes could have faced literally anyone at Elimination Chamber and I don't want him vs Jacob Fatu at Wrestlemania as they risk turning Jacob babyface and nobody will cheer for Solo. The match happened.

[Supremo]

10 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Backstabber Belair is still very over but those fans are going to be so disappointed very soon. She doesn't even ask Aldis who murdered Jade Cargill anymore. @Supremo, you think Sami and Cody are shitty friends? This woman probably hasn't even Whatsapped Jade's family to ask when the funeral is.

I think we’ve all been in Bianca’s position. So good at your job you get lumbered with the rubbish new starter. Bianca used to be a Wrestlemania Main Eventer. Then she ended up slumming it in the Tag Division, watching Jade fall off the top rope a lot. Bet she’s delighted Jade fell through that windshield practicing Springboards.

I wonder if they’ve slowly decided to drop the whole thing? Even with two Nights at Wrestlemania, do you really think they’ll do a Jade Cargill singles match? I can’t see it.

[TheScarlettChad]

Id just bin jade. She's absolutely useless. 

[Snitsky's back acne]

Is Katana Chance Kacy Catanzaro? 

She seemed so fresh and different all those years ago when she was doing handstands on the ropes and climbing the ring post as an entrance. What happened? 

[air_raid]

16 minutes ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

Is Katana Chance Kacy Catanzaro? 

Yes. Soon to be in singles, I think Carter gets cut.

[DavidB6937]

That triple threat could be a banger. FA TUUUUUU.

[tiger_rick]

Is @Devon Malcolm booking Smackdown now?

[Devon Malcolm]

4 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Is @Devon Malcolm booking Smackdown now?

Obviously not. Naomi's on!

[Arch Stanton]

On 2/10/2025 at 10:47 AM, Snitsky's back acne said:

Is Katana Chance Kacy Catanzaro? 

She seemed so fresh and different all those years ago when she was doing handstands on the ropes and climbing the ring post as an entrance. What happened? 

Well that's pretty much all she had.

[air_raid]

I watched it again, at least parts of it.

On 2/13/2025 at 8:28 AM, air_raid said:

At a time when over the road, there’s a great job being done of establishing dastardly baddie Chelsea of Honkying her way out and generally being tough to put a pin on,

FUCK.

On 1/6/2022 at 8:23 AM, air_raid said:

 

I’d forgotten when I wrote that they’d already announced another foregone conclusion qualifier for Chels to lose to Naomi. Enjoyed the finish, Naomi should never win using any other move. Appreciated Wade calling the Rough Ryder too.

I still enjoy (The) Motor City Machine Guns, do they ever do the Thunder Express anymore? That was their best move. On that note, that tandem Beautiful Disaster that LDF do really should be a finish, not a nearfall.

Kevin Owens was the only talky bit I watched. Him vs Zayn in Toronto is a masterstroke, hope Kev winning leads to a revenge for Sami or gimmick match at Mania. Otherwise it’s making me sad that they can’t be arsed to throw ALL the big matches at a single show any more even if that show is Mania.

Skipped Truth vs Hayes because it was a foregone conclusion but it was good follow up from last week in terms of matches Carmelo should be winning.

Knight and Miz is a very natural pairing, and while I bet some clowns think they’re cut from the same cloth in terms of “all show, no go” I think they’re both good at the meat and potatoes - tell me who I want to win because one guy is likeable and the others a prick, and have a match. Really liked the BFT out of nowhere, if they leaned into that more he’d be even further down the road of “late bloomer/Dallas Page mk2” but looks like that elbow is his new finish, which I don’t hate.

Tiffy showed great babyface fire against the beast, though fell victim to something I really hate - it seems everyone likes to over rotate these days when doing any kind of moonsault to the outside to try and land on their feet, instead of landing flat onto their opponent. Takes me out of it somewhat. Made up for it with a cracking Swanton though I wondered with Nia prone on her back why she wouldn’t go for the PME and hoped that wouldn’t be a mistake that cost her. Given that we know now it’s Tiff vs Charlotte of Borg at Mania it’s double frustrating in hindsight that they did a DQ finish instead of just letting Stratton pin her, reeks of the dreadful finish to the Cargill match and “Nia must be protected no matter the cost!!11” I suppose it made a little sense in the aftermath, maybe Tiffany will pin her in Toronto, but probably not. Trish’s hair was so big I didn’t recognise who was jumping in at first. And speaking of which; 

On 12/23/2024 at 12:03 PM, air_raid said:

per my Mania prediction elsewhere, Tiffy will work with Trish, and while it might not be the Mania match, beat her on a PLE.

… I’ll go to my grave convinced this was the plan before they either (a) realised Tiff was getting popular so had to turn her or (b) elected to turn her to accommodate a villainous Charlotte. Nobody seemed to get where I was coming from so I’m giving myself half a pat on the back (again) for guessing Tiffy would be drawn into Trish’s orbit (the Stratusphere?) around Mania season a full month before the Rumble. And they sowed a seed at the Rumble, Nia eliminating Trish. It makes sense all round with Jax as one of the post-Trish characters she hasn’t yet worked in her semi-retired semi-comeback state. It’s a shame there’s not room for more baddies though, with Alexa back I’d have loved to see her and Tiffy as a Mean Girls pair. Like LayCool were, only good. But small mercies ; Alexa’s in the Chamber and hey, Candice gets a PLE payday that isn’t a Rumble or a Survivors multigirl clusterfuck, who saw that coming? Even if the New Japan fan in me is trained to recognise a designated jobber when I see one. Also, glad it’s Tiff that the Nature Bot has declared for, I’d hate to see Rhea assimilated into her beigeness after a defining Mania win for her last year. At least Stratton is something new for The Queen… let’s hope they see sense and don’t call time on Tiffy Time, though I have my doubts.

Finally, some powerful stuff between Jacob and Strowman at the end of that Triple Threat, shame Braun is the definition of “lost in the shuffle.” And I hate that they fell back on “no disqualifications in a triple threat” when standard rules should be enforced, the ref can throw it out for them being broken, and another lifetime ago Dwayne From The Board set precedent for one man losing by count-out so… yeah, stop that shit. They’re fooling nobody with Cody and Priest at the end, are they? I have even fewer issues with the Cody/Solo teases if now it’s serving as a setup for the Newest Headshrinkers imploding. I’d love a Monsters Ball type situation with those two and Braun thrown in, though I still think Sikoa needs a stronger Fatality than the thumb. I know it was integral to the finish in the main of Mania 39, but I like to forget that match even happened, and so should you.

What I watched, I enjoyed again. Nothing out of place, nothing terrible, good matches, mostly sensible results.

[The King of Old School]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

What I watched, I enjoyed again. Nothing out of place, nothing terrible, good matches, mostly sensible results.

Thought the La Knight/Miz segment was painful.

Skimmed the rest this morning, enjoyed the triple threat. Thought they were going Cody/Solo at EC but doesn't seem like it now?

Dreadful having both the new women's IC and US champs losing in the space of a week, I'm sure they could have put other's in them spots.

And they wonder why nobody cares about the new belts.

[TheScarlettChad]

3 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

Dreadful having both the new women's IC and US champs losing in the space of a week, I'm sure they could have put other's in them spots.

And they wonder why nobody cares about the new belts.

They don't care about the women in general. 

[RedTwoster]

That was a good 2-hour show padded to the point a drag queen would be proud. 

I enjoyed it enough, but I can only imagine how much it dragged at points if you were watching it live.

I enjoyed the Knight/Miz confrontation, but the way Nakamura was rambling on about ‘waiting in the shadows’ had me suspecting that Malaki Black was about to show up. 

Looks like Alexa Bliss is continuing on with the crap Lily gimmick, and that she will indeed get involved with the Wyatt Sicks. It’s not something I want to see, but I hope they keep the supernatural nonsense away from it.

Solo/Jimmy vs Fatu/Tonga seems likely for Wrestlemania, and I’m definitely up for that - although I’d be perfectly happy to see Solo/Fatu in a one-on-one match.

I really enjoyed the main event, and I’d have been happy with any of the participants going on to the chamber; even Strowman, who can certainly add something to a match like that. 

I enjoyed the Street Profits promo, but the tag division on the whole on Smackdown is pretty boring. The Machine Guns are about as bland a team as I’ve seen for some time; which is a shame, as Alex Shelley has a lot to offer.