Friday, August 7, 2015

Smackdown: Friendship is Magic

Henry proved to be a good friend this week to the PTP
Photo Credit: WWE.com
Best Temporary Friend – Mark Henry 
Mark Henry teamed up with the Prime Time Players for a match against the New Day. The match was pretty much what we've come to expect from these two teams. I'm not tired of it yet, but I am starting to get impatient for some kind of movement in the tag division. At any rate, Mark Henry is always a fun person to shake things up. I didn't even care that it didn't really make much sense for him to be randomly inserted into the division. Mark Henry should just wander in and out of feuds crushing whomever he pleases. He also gave the New Day the opportunity to hilariously rant backstage about how his pin of Kofi Kingston shouldn't count against them because Henry isn't actually a member of the Prime Time Players.

Most Extraneous Friend – Tamina
Naomi and Sasha Banks faced Charlotte and Becky Lynch after a previously singles match was turned into a tag match. Charlotte and Lynch were sans Paige, but Tamina was still out with her BAD buddies. She delivered the most awkward looking superkick to Charlotte on the ring apron that I have ever seen and, much as I like to pick apart Brie Bella, it's also becoming apparent how equally out of her depth Tamina is. Her team still won, but it might be time for a couple of the women's trios to start ditching some dead weight. And as long as I'm talking about the so-called Revolution, here's my biggest question: if Stephanie McMahon is all for shaking things up and helping to challenge the Bellas, why hasn't she made Nikki defend her title yet? Why not immediately make the champ face a gauntlet of title matches, especially since her team has had more than its share of losses? I'm not objecting to the sudden onslaught of good, long women's matches, but it's got to lead somewhere.

Needs A Friend – Stardust
Stardust scored a win over Zack Ryder this week, and I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with Stardust's situation. He's getting the same treatment that he and Goldust received as a tag team: instead of selling him as interesting or as a threat, commentary just keeps calling him weird and dismissing him. Neville is doing the same thing in their feud, and now we're all supposed to get excited about him lying down for a celebrity, which is what's guaranteed to happen when Stephen Amell shows up on RAW. Stardust just can't get any traction or credibility and I just want one person to join Stardust in his wackiness. Wrestling is already weird and stupid. Embrace it!

Most Unhealthy Friendship – Summer Rae and Rusev
Not to turn this gig into a romantic advice column or anything, but Summer Rae continues to be in a very unfortunate position. While Rusev has taken over flag-carrying duties so that she doesn't have to struggle anymore, it's painfully obvious that he's not done with Lana and perhaps never will be. It's equally obvious that Lana can't keep herself away from him, as she came out during his match against Roman Reigns in order to attack Summer for no reason other than to distract Rusev. While Summer lay stunned on the ground, Rusev made no move to check on her, instead once more becoming wholly concentrated on Lana and screaming about her, enabling Reigns to pin him. There's no reason for Lana to keep inserting herself into this story.

Despite commentary's assertions that she HAS to respond to Rusev trying to get under her skin, she really, really doesn't. If she was really over Rusev and had nothing but contempt for him then she would just ignore him and get on with her life (lol, look at me expecting maturity and adult behaviour on my wrestling show). These two idiots are clearly not over each other and poor Summer Rae needs to get the hell out of Dodge.