The Smackers Thread

[RedTwoster]

1 minute ago, The King of Old School said:

I just find MITB such a tired concept these days.

Good shout though with Sami I could see that happening.

Agreed. I wouldn’t mind it so much with a few tweaks - perhaps making it a match in which only people who have never been world champion can compete, or something like that. Or maybe rotate it - one year it’s a women’s match, the year after it’s a men’s match so that there’s only ever one briefcase in play. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

It’s weird that they introduced him as Jeff Cobb at Backlash. Why do that, then immediately change his name?

They've Hideo Itami'd him. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

I mean, he could win Money in the Bank. I’m gonna predict a Sami Zayn win instead though, with him cashing in on Jey to turn heel.

I fear for @Supremo and his ability to process the complex emotions he'll feel if his boy finally wins a World Title... but does so as a heel getting booed.

[WyattSheepMask]

44 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

I just find MITB such a tired concept these days.

Good shout though with Sami I could see that happening.

I still think it’s fine as a gimmick, it’s easy to build and the qualifying matches fill TV time, but it could do the field being narrowed for the actual match. They’ve been doing that year on year since 2022, but I don’t think it should be any more than 4 people competing in the match

[Supremo]

Receipts are already prepared for if Sami turns on Jey. The bullying prick had it coming. Sami is right.

There’s loads of juice left in the Money in the Bank concept. The problem is they’re so unbelievably lazy with it. It’s always the same thing. Right down to them normally cashing in on the very same show. More often than not, wrestlers now cash in on the very same show that they win it, as if the writers themselves can’t be arsed with it and just want it over and done with it as soon as possible.

For example, in the nearly twenty years of them doing it, how many times has a babyface announced ahead of time that they’re cashing in? Once with RVD? Maybe twice? I seem to recall Cena gave someone a week’s notice.

I like the idea of Sami winning the briefcase, but the burden weighing on him. He’s never won the Big One, so what makes anyone think he could ever possibly win it against The Greatest of all Time? He plans to wait, save it, and cash in on someone else at Wrestlemania. Maybe he’ll go for the Intercontinental Title. But as time goes on, with each challenger failing, he realises he’s our last hope. Roman, Gunther and Cody giving him their blessing. Encouraging him to believe in himself. Kevin giving him the big pep talk. And then the Underdog from the Underground saves the whole fucking Universe.

Or turns heel on Jey. Both work for me.

Edited May 17, 2025 by Supremo

[DavidB6937]

I actually don't mind what they do with Sami as long as they do something. He's far too talented to just sit on the sidelines and I fear he's easy enough for them to potentially ignore when they've got Roman, Cody etc. Just give the guy something good to sink his teeth into because he can make absolutely anything work.

Granted I'd much rather he got to the top as the plucky babyface because I feel like it'd be a fucking beautiful moment but I'll take anything Sami related as long as he keeps getting the focus.

[JLM]

I wanted to see the Jeff Cobb match but he’s A.C. Slater now and he was in jeans and a t shirt and he had a FIFTEEN MINUTE singles match with fucking LA Knight. Jeff Cobb singles matches should be 10 minutes maximum and make me want to eat a raw steak afterwards. At least he did the Tour of the Islands. 
 

Edit: Also would love to give credit but I cannot for the life of me remember who on here suggested it, but the idea of Cobb and Bronson Reed as a modern day Natural Disasters sounded so awesome to me that whatever he’s doing instead will be disappointing. They have such a perfect division for it too, with your MCMGs and your Fraxioms, the ideal opponents for a monster heel tag team. Oh the road not taken. 

Edited May 17, 2025 by JLM

[LaGoosh]

As a big fan of Matanza, I made the decision to watch his match on Smackdown. It was shite.

The black t-shirt, trousers and dress shoes is a very bad look for him. It hid all his size and his wonderful muscle gut. He looked tiny next to LA Knight.

The main selling point of Cobb is that he's a walking fridge who does big suplexes/throws. Most his offence in this was lower card schlub bad punches and kicks.

A debut match should almost always be short, fast paced and show off the new guy's unique qualities. This match did none of those things.

LA Knight's punches are terrible. Babyfaces should never have bad punches. Good punches are absolutely essential to the babyface comeback, the most important part of being a babyface.

Complete waste of time. I like Jacob Fatu's hat.

[Supremo]

Yeah, Cobb’s presentation was baffling. Accentuate the negatives, hide the positives. It was like hiring The Hulk, then insisting he switched to Bruce Banner.

In the one company, we’ve got Finn Balor and Dirty Dom teasing animosity, A-Town Down Under throwing each other under the bus, Solo and Jacob Fatu teasing dissension, Legado Del Fantasma bickering and Roxanne and Gulia arguing, splitting up and heading to different shows after their very first night tagging together. Fucking hell, Hunter.

Saddest thing was them having Fenix lose again, opting to put Solo Sikoa in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match over Rey Fenix. Madness. I wonder how Fenix is feeling to finally be free of the prison he considered AEW to be. Losing all over the shop. Never felt less like a star. Rey Fenix is that old fella, “Brooks,” in Shawshank Redemption. Got out of, “prison,” only to discover life is much shitter on the outside. Get busy living or get busy jobbin’.

Aleister Black being the wrestler equivalent of, “the worst person you know makes a great point.” My least favourite wrestler did a cool thing. His name appearing on the LED guardrails as he walked past was annoyingly brilliant. He went full Rafa Benitez!

Still, similar to Fenix, you have to wonder. Is this really what you waited years for, Ally Black? Wining bad matches via DQ after a Miz run-in? Shite.

I understand the petty, underhanded reasoning for doing both Saturday Night’s Main Event and an NXT special the same weekend as Double or Nothing. Business is business. But headlining your big show with 2025 John Cena vs. R-Truth, when the competition is doing Hangman vs. Ospreay? It would not be my call to create such comparisons.

Edited May 18, 2025 by Supremo

[TheScarlettChad]

24 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Yeah, Cobb’s presentation was baffling. Accentuate the negatives, hide the positives. It was like hiring The Hulk, then insisting he switched to Bruce Banner.

In the one company, we’ve got Finn Balor and Dirty Dom teasing animosity, A-Town Down Under throwing each other under the bus, Solo and Jacob Fatu teasing dissension, Legado Del Fantasma bickering and Roxanne and Gulia arguing, splitting up and heading to different shows after their very first night tagging together. Fucking hell, Hunter.

Saddest thing was them having Fenix lose again, opting to put Solo Sikoa in the Money in the Bank Ladder Match over Rey Fenix. Madness. I wonder how Fenix is feeling to finally be free of the prison be considered AEW to be. Losing all over the shop. Never felt less like a star. Rey Fenix is that old fella, “Brooks,” in Shawshank Redemption. Got out of, “prison,” only to discover life is much shitter on the outside. Get busy living or get busy jobbin’.

Aleister Black being the wrestler equivalent of, “the worst person you know makes a great point.” My least favourite wrestler did a cool thing. His name appearing on the LED guardrails as he walked past was annoyingly brilliant. He went full Rafa Benitez!

Still, similar to Fenix, you have to wonder. Is this really what you waited years for, Ally Black? Wining bad matches via DQ after a Miz run-in? Shite.

I understand the petty, underhanded reasoning for doing both Saturday Night’s Main Event and an NXT special the same weekend as Double or Nothing. Business is business. But headlining your big show with 2025 John Cena vs. R-Truth, when the competition is doing Hangman vs. Ospreay? It would not be my call to create such comparisons.

Let's not compare then. Both matches serve different functions. Truth deserves this imo. Even if it's because he was good almost fifteen years ago. 

[Supremo]

Whole match hinges on whether Truth whips out a vape.

[RedTwoster]

47 minutes ago, Supremo said:

I understand the petty, underhanded reasoning for doing both Saturday Night’s Main Event and an NXT special the same weekend as Double or Nothing. Business is business. But headlining your big show with 2025 John Cena vs. R-Truth, when the competition is doing Hangman vs. Ospreay? It would not be my call to create such comparisons.

Honestly, I’m more likely to watch it for Cena/Truth than I am for any of the other matches on the card. They’re very unlikely to put on a better wrestling show than AEW, so they might as well offer something different. It’s a novelty underdog match, and there’s scope for that to be very enjoyable.

AEW is red hot right now, so the best WWE can hope for with such short build-up is the be interesting. I’m not sure they’ve succeeded with the rest of the card, but this match is one I’m genuinely looking forward to. If I had to choose between DoN or this, DoN wins every day of the week, but I’ll definitely seek out SNME to find out exactly what they end up doing with this.

[d-d-d-dAz]

32 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

Let's not compare then. Both matches serve different functions. Truth deserves this imo. Even if it's because he was good almost fifteen years ago. 

To be fair, he got this fifteen years ago (ish) when he headlined a pay per view against John Cena for the WWE title.

A pay per view that inexplicably had a caricature of Barack Obama front and centre of its poster, no less.

[TheScarlettChad]

2 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

To be fair, he got this fifteen years ago (ish) when he headlined a pay per view against John Cena for the WWE title.

A pay per view that inexplicably had a caricature of Barack Obama front and centre of its poster, no less.

Capitol Punishment! It had Obama on the poster, because it was in DC, I think. The set was literally the white house. One of the last good sets.

[Devon Malcolm]

I even got bored reading the results on Bleacher Report.

I might watch the Chelsea Green match. Are they ever going to end that feud with Michin?