Monday, November 10, 2014

Smackdown: Friendship is Magic

Enough already with these two teams, okay?
Photo Credit: WWE.com
Friendship Most Unimproved By Props – Goldust and Stardust and the Usos
We got this match-up once again for the Tag Team titles...but this time in a steel cage! It just made no sense. The only reason I could glean for why the Usos got a title match was because Jey won a singles match against Stardust. How is that a sensible way to hand out title opportunities? The match itself was quite enjoyable (and I'm glad the Dust Brothers retained), but I hate that just seeing that these two teams are going to face each other makes my brain shut down because I'm automatically bored. It's so unfair to the teams and I feel terrible about it. Throwing stipulations around is not the way to solve the tag scene problem, but I talked about that last week.

Best Friendship Snub – Ryback (to Kane)
Ryback was invited out to join the Authority by Kane and ended up having a match against Cesaro, who also wanted to throw his hat in the Authority ring. Ryback won and immediately exited the ring without so much as a backwards glance at Kane or an acknowledgment of the attempted honour that could have been bestowed. I loved this both because it's hilarious to me that Kane is so bad at gaining allies even when he wants to, and because it shows that Ryback is way smarter than he looks. Why should he join the Authority? That didn't work out so well for Randy Orton. I am kind of bummed that Cesaro was so desperate to join and that he lost the ensuing match. Poor guy.

Best Friendship Fracture – Adam Rose and the Bunny
I didn't mention it last week, but I loved R-Truth pointing out that Adam Rose has basically become the bunny's sidekick, making Rose briefly pause before brushing it off. This week, after Adam Rose's match against R-Truth, Rose viciously knocked the bunny down and, despite the animal's pathetic reaction, I was not moved. That rabbit is trouble, and this is the most interesting that Adam Rose has ever been. Rose and the Rosebuds backing up the ramp and leaving the bunny to hop behind them all by itself only made me anticipate further fall-outs.

Friendship...Somehow? – Christian, Dean Ambrose, and Bray Wyatt
Yeah, I really can't spin the Peep Show segment into a friendship thing, but I just wanted to mention it because I love Christian and I love Dean Ambrose and I love Bray Wyatt and all three of them together at once just made me really happy. I liked Christian acknowledging his and Ambrose's past altercations and, even though Christian kind of just...disappeared after Bray Wyatt showed up, I loved Wyatt's assertion that he just wants to save Ambrose. And this was all crowned with Wyatt's sudden wild-eyed appearance at Ambrose's shoulder, telling him to run. It legitimately startled me. Well done.

Best Friends – Summer Rae and Layla
Summer Rae and Layla appeared together again during Summer's match against Natalya, and I couldn't be happier. They were ostensibly heels here (because they dared to talk to Tyson Kidd about his wrestling match on the wrestling show on which they all wrestle...but he's also married and therefore conversation with other females is forbidden. So teacheth Total Divas.) and the match itself was unfortunately overshadowed by the Nattie/Kidd marital strife, but I was still glad to see that the Summer/Layla friendship hasn't just been pushed aside. Now if they could just get longer matches to showcase said friendship...

Worst Friendship Decision – Dolph Ziggler Throwing in with John Cena
Dolph Ziggler is officially on Team Cena for Survivor Series, and the punishment from the Authority just kept coming this week. Ziggler won his steel cage match against Kane, but the onslaught against him has been pretty non-stop. And where exactly has his pal Cena been? Who the heck knows, but he certainly hasn't been helping out his only team mate. It makes no sense for Ziggler to throw his lot in with Cena given their history together, and it makes even less sense given that Cena has done fuck all to earn Ziggler's loyalty. All in all, a terrible decision on Ziggler's part.