Instant Feedback: The Grease

The superfriends on the left may have been the focus, but the Heyman guys on the right were the interest
Photo Credit: WWE.com

The main event for Smackdown was announced from the start of the show. Most of the focus seemingly was supposed to go to Daniel Bryan and CM Punk as they went to embark on a team-building exercise, but when their opponents were announced as Ryback and Curtis Axel, I found the team dubbed as "The Best and the Beard" as the far less interesting option. Axel was right behind Paul Heyman as the silver tongued agent of deception put Ryback on blast.

So, how would Ryback and Axel coexist? Where would the characters go. How would they react? What would be their motivation? Neither Ryback nor Axel minced too many words, and the narrative was built simply, with not a whole lot of component pieces. Ryback didn't trust Axel, and Axel presumably lied about not being a Heyman guy anymore just for his own self-preservation. Truthfully, Heyman would be the one with most reason to sever the relationship indicated by his near constant stream of facepalms when out for Axel's matches.

To be quite honest, I wasn't all that satisfied with how that string played out on this show. Ryback shoved Axel to the wolves, or in this case, the sheep, and the two were more lubrication for the gears of a higher-profile story. Such is life in a WWE with a roster loaded to the gills. I do remain hopeful a meatier story takes place between the two in the backdrop of Heyman's machinations, and I am patient enough to see if and where it goes. But the actual story wasn't as interesting to me as a willingness of addressing continuity and building several layers of narrative was.

WWE is an ensemble cast, but unlike even the most brilliant television shows, the company has the luxury of 52 week seasons with six hours of first run television (seven if one counts Superstars, but at this point, I don't). So, while LOST out of necessity had to dedicate sole episodes to specific arcs because of time constraints, WWE isn't bound to those restrictions. Yet, more often than not in the last five years, they've seemed more than happy to dedicate entire two-to-three hour frames where the only narrative advanced was one surrounding John Cena or Randy Orton or Triple H or even CM Punk or Daniel Bryan.

That reason is why I felt refreshed that the Heyman guys story thread was given better treatment than a Michael Cole one-line summary. WWE has time on the show, and even if character development and growth only happen on one or two segments on Smackdown, they're developments that can add different hues of color to entire shows. Can Ryback and Axel get along? Don't tell me that they will or won't. Show them interacting to me.

The major plot points on the show are important, but the grease in the wheels can be the difference between a clunky, noisy mess and a smooth ride. The Heyman Guys saga is the perfect WD40 to keep a main narrative consisting of the Wyatt Family and their prey humming smoothly.