The Smackers Thread

[Supremo]

Do some UK sites still allow you to bet on WWE?

Got to assume a Seth victory in that Triple Threat will give similar odds to The Streak ending.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

I think that would only work if Romans going to stick around for the next B show, which I doubt. Mind you, we live in a weird world where the top stars don’t actually wrestle all that often. Realistically whether Punk or Reigns win, it’s going to be weird if winning a match of such magnitude doesn’t get the winner immediately in line for the next title shot, and yet, that’s probably what’s going to happen.

Unless Seth Rollins wins, which is what I expect to happen. 

I don’t think Reigns will be around for the next b-show, but I could see something happen that ‘prevents that’, and allows them to pick up on the feud whenever he’s next available. 

[air_raid]

4 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

Unless Seth Rollins wins, which is what I expect to happen. 

He’s in the match to get beat, I think. So neither of the megastars has to lose to the other.

Punk wins. He might get to have a title shot in the interim before Roman eventually returns for the singles match with Punk, at long last.

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

He’s in the match to get beat, I think. So neither of the megastars has to lose to the other.

Punk wins. He might get to have a title shot in the interim before Roman eventually returns for the singles match with Punk, at long last.

Punk won't be doing anything for very much longer if he keeps playing silly bollocks like this on house shows...

 

 

[Supremo]

The Good

Bryan Danielson was attributed with teaching Jade Cargill in AEW, wasn’t he? Makes sense then, that Danielson’s spiritual successor, “Workrate,” Liv Morgan would give Jade the best match of her WWE career. Another great performance from Liv. She rules.

That’s not to say Jade looked amazing or anything. You can still see the cracks. There was a solid ten seconds near the end where Jade looked completely lost, randomly grabbing at Liv, waiting for Naomi’s run-in. Jade’s backstage promo was dreadful again, too. Overall, she’s genuinely regressed since joining WWE. Who the fuck is training her in the Performance Center? Charlotte Flair?

Drew McIntyre continues to work miracles with this Damien Priest program. Great performance, great attempt to thread a year-long feud out of crumbs, and another amazing, babyface reaction for our Drew. Pull the trigger and turn him in the UK. Double turn them. There’s something there.

Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens is a rubbish feud that robbed us of Sami vs. Kevin in Hell in a Cell for the Winged Eagle Title, but trust Kevin to still find a way to make it work. Really funny when he suggested he and Randy should go for the tag belts. “Can I just shock you? I really like you. We could be best friends. If we ignore that thing where I tried to break your neck and end your career.”

Pretty Deadly singing, “It’s coming home,” made me smile. It’s a dumb decision that’ll just lead to yet another multi-man match at Wrestlemania, but who cares at this point. Put the belts on Pretty Deadly in London. Get The Lightning Seeds in to sing them to the ring. Yes boy!

CM Punk’s bouffant was spectacular.

The Bad

Another DQ finish. Another promo leading to an impromptu match. The Road-D-O-Double-G needs to Fuck-O-Double-F.

Zelina Vega getting the non-reaction of the year. Maybe of the decade. Holy shit. Considering how loud this crowd was, it was legitimately silent when her music hit. Even Gargano and Ciampa probably took the piss.

Strowman running is the saddest sight I ever did see. Won’t someone give him Rey Mysterio’s number already. Control your narrative! Get those knees Stem Celled! 

Compromise-Mania running wild. Seeing the three lads together and having the match confirmed just brought into focus what everyone’s known since the news leaked. CM Punk vs. Roman is a huge, marquee match. Roman vs. Seth is a huge, marquee match. They’ve somehow managed to take all the best ingredients and make the worst dish imaginable. Lazy as fuck writing, too. “Shall we write something interesting to somehow make this all work?” “Nah. Just have them point at the sign.” Lifeless, uninspiring shite.

Worst of all, you just know Punk knows it. Worked his whole career for a Mania main event, then ends up with this. Remember how he banged on and on during that Ariel Helwani interview about how he was in the business of making money and selling tickets? As far as Wrestlemania Main Events go, I can’t remember the last one as bad as this. No wonder the Eye-bag-o-meter currently stands at, “could have their own post code.” Probably already booking Colt Cabana in for another podcast.

The Worst

That Charlotte/Tiffy Splitscreen promo battle needs to be seen to be believed. What a pile of shit. Genuinely unbelievable that it made air. Most counterproductive thing I can remember on WWE TV in years.

By definition, promo battles are always dog shit, designed exclusively to make people go, “oooooh,” rather than actually sell a match. But usually, at least both participants get their shitty little digs in. Not here. This was a complete burial. Borderline sabotage. Charlotte made Tiffany look like an absolute dickhead. Interrupting. Talking over her. Burying her teen feet under.

Twenty years of doing the Money in the Bank briefcase gimmick and not once - either babyface or heel - has the cash-in ever been portrayed as a cheap or shitty thing to do. Even when it so obviously was, nobody really ever demeaned someone for doing it. It was treated as a legitimate way to win. Not when you’ve got the instincts of Charlotte Flair, though. Tiffany, the babyface, trying to save herself from drowning on air by saying she’s the Champion, only for Charlotte, the heel, to instantly respond, “yeah, but you only won via cash-in.” Killed her dead. Game over. No coming back. Fuck me. What are we doing here. Honestly, one of the worst promos I’ve ever seen. The antithesis of what a promo should achieve. Heel reeking of Go-Away Heat, leaving a babyface looking like the biggest loser who has ever lived. What a fucking mess. I wouldn’t even Main Event the Pre-show with this.

The list keeps growing. Stuff Charlotte has zero aptitude for. Can’t sell a match. Can’t cut a promo that still manages to get her opponent over. Honest to God. I feel like I’m losing my mind when I read people praising her or calling her the best of all time. Fuck knows what they’re watching.

 

[LaGoosh]

Punk is the spitting image of Vince in that picture.

Edited March 23, 2025 by LaGoosh

[RedTwoster]

7 hours ago, Supremo said:

Bryan Danielson was attributed with teaching Jade Cargill in AEW, wasn’t he? Makes sense then, that Danielson’s spiritual successor, “Workrate,” Liv Morgan would give Jade the best match of her WWE career. Another great performance from Liv. She rules.

I was thinking that - she’s really been done the dirty this Wrestlemania. She carries the women’s division for the year, becomes one of their best character female or male, and someone Iyo Sky and Charlotte Flair end up in featured matches, while Liv is left holding the meaningless tag belts. Liv is a thousand times better than Charlotte, and Stratton would have benefitted enormously from working with her - particularly given that Tiffany’s deficiencies are pretty much all in her character work. 

[Mr_Danger]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

I was thinking that - she’s really been done the dirty this Wrestlemania. She carries the women’s division for the year, becomes one of their best character female or male, and someone Iyo Sky and Charlotte Flair end up in featured matches, while Liv is left holding the meaningless tag belts. Liv is a thousand times better than Charlotte, and Stratton would have benefitted enormously from working with her - particularly given that Tiffany’s deficiencies are pretty much all in her character work. 

She would have benefitted greatly from this, an actual heel who is willing to show arse instead of burying her. That terrible side by side on Smackdown was indicative of the disintegrating shit show that has been the build for this Mania since about Jey’s fantastic  post Rumble crowd entrance. Since then it’s all been classic Vince style booking. Make the faces look like dorks, give us the least interesting matches, have the wrestlers cut witty zingers on each other that are neither witty nor zingy, have champions losing non title bouts. I expect the second tier belts to be flip flopped a half a dozen times before Mania.

[air_raid]

Some random thoughts now I’ve seen more - sorry, but Mania 3 has taken precedence….

Production continues to upset me. Niven makes her entrance for her match which is the next segment, apparently, then we get blindsided by a recap of something else. Not a short “moments ago” ten seconds like they used to, but a whole shift in focus before Niven vs Vega actually happens. Who wants this??

Tiffy looked weak barely getting a word in on Charlotte and stupid relying on her having the belt making her better, when her MITB win and entirety of her reign took place while Charlotte was off, up to the Rumble, which Charlotte won. Boo-urns.

The worst spot of the whole night was those two lads just standing there gawping for ages after the failed double press to the decent Profit, instead of doing literally any diving attack to, you know, hurt your opponent while he stands there for fucking ages with his back to you. I HATE when wrestling forgets what it is and has the athletes “do drama” instead of looking like they’re trying to win.

Raquel towering over both Liv and Cathy, and not looking small next to Jade, further emphasised what a presence she is. In fact, wearing one belt around waist and one over her shoulder (even if it was Livs) gave her even more of a Diesel vibe than she usually has. The whole Jade vs Liv piece of business was very much my grabs, Cargill commands the crowds attention and knows when to work them, I didn’t think any of her failings were too terrible here (although 3 kip ups was overkill) and Liv was her usual reliable self - the couple of dead weight sells from Morgan I enjoyed, likewise multiple decent counters to ObLivion, and a finish that added to an ongoing story without making Jade look bad in defeat. That’ll do, I don’t ask for much. “Liv as Mona Lisa” sign I loved. Or should I say, “Gionna as La Gioconda” to give the painting its proper name. Since “Mona” is a mistranslation and in Northern Italy (e.g Bologna) is slang for pussy.

Roman cracking smiles during his first minute with the mic looked genuine for me, for the song he received from the crowd, who were otherwise dickheads. But then the show merited it, something akin to ordering tagliatelle al ragu alla bolognese and receiving “spag bol.” Forza Italia.

 

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

 Liv is left holding the meaningless tag belts

Apologies for the double post but I actually think Liv drags that title up, rather than it dragging her down.

[DavidB6937]

11 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Apologies for the double post but I actually think Liv drags that title up, rather than it dragging her down.

Problem is they've had other holders that you'd think the same of, but because they're utterly useless at booking tag divisions it's always pointless in the end.

[RedTwoster]

14 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Apologies for the double post but I actually think Liv drags that title up, rather than it dragging her down.

I don’t disagree with that, but it feels like a waste of the momentum she’s built up heading into Wrestlemania, and of Liv in general. 

[Vamp]

On 3/23/2025 at 9:26 AM, air_raid said:

Production continues to upset me. Niven makes her entrance for her match which is the next segment, apparently, then we get blindsided by a recap of something else. Not a short “moments ago” ten seconds like they used to, but a whole shift in focus before Niven vs Vega actually happens. Who wants this??

 

I really don't get why they do this. Or why they have 1 side of a match enter before the ad break. It must be so odd as a performer to make an entrance and then stand around for several minutes watching as the crowd gets bored. 

[Statto]

It's a couple of years ago now (back in the Vince era IIRC) but there was an instance of about 15 or 20 minutes elapsing between Liv Morgan's music hitting and the opening bell of the (singles) match she was in.

Someone plotted all the stuff that happened in between and there was at least 2 ad breaks, a recap video (unrelated), a backstage interview (unrelated) and all sorts. 

[simonworden]

5 hours ago, Vamp said:

I really don't get why they do this. Or why they have 1 side of a match enter before the ad break. It must be so odd as a performer to make an entrance and then stand around for several minutes watching as the crowd gets bored. 

I can remember Natalaya do that on a London Smackdown in 2012. Was even stranger as it isn't a bloody live show. Just stood there like a lemon while they showed some pointless videos.