Sure, maybe Cody Rhodes didn’t specifically invite Kevin Owens to prom, but the awkward vibe was still there.
Friday’s edition of WWE SmackDown had a lot to live up to after a great WWE Raw, and admittedly, this segment started off strong. Rhodes let his frustration and intensity show through as he growled at Solo Sikoa, and while Sikoa’s performance wasn’t his best, it wasn’t terrible either. Things came to a head when The Bloodline tried to surround Rhodes, but his longtime ally Kevin Owens saved him.
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The trigger for all these unpleasant machinations for Owens was his long-time ally Rhodes.
After successfully fending off the Bloodline, Rhodes extended the opening segment with one of the most clunky and difficult transitions in recent WWE history. Rhodes’ music played, and yet Rhodes kept talking. Playing Rhodes’ music and preparing the viewer’s brain for a transition to the next segment, only to then pull the viewer back and listen to more promo material was a poor choice, and the clunkiness set a precedent for the whole clunky circus that would come out of the Rhodes/Owens storyline, which is apparently being sold for Bash in Berlin.
Rhodes has always been eloquent; this week he was just wordy. Perhaps because of the poor transition-no-transition earlier, Rhodes’ post-segment was rocky, as he begged Owens to be his opponent at Bash in Berlin. Something about Owens deserving of a title shot, even though Owens – as he correctly made clear to Rhodes – is far from a championship feud in character. Despite his refusal, Rhodes continued to urge Owens to accept his offer, and not in a romantic, “I’m not giving up on us” kind of way. It was in an “I already bought us matching corsages and boutonnieres for prom, please say yes” kind of way. Rhodes’ insistence and the suddenness of the feud only made the whole thing more awkward.
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Owens continued to stand firm and reject Rhodes’ title opportunity. That is, until Nick Aldis came along and baited Owens by suggesting a WrestleMania 40 rematch at Bash in Berlin. After further discussion with the rest of my esteemed colleagues, we concluded that Aldis was trying to exploit Owens’ tensions with Reigns to get Owens to accept a title opportunity. We talked about it for about 20 minutes, which is way too long for a two-hour show. We watch a lot of wrestling and are at least semi-competent at it. The fact that we had to spend so long discussing what happened shows how clumsy these segments were. Aldis’ puzzles did nothing to justify or spice up this match, and the segments themselves were a waste of time that should have messed up what should have been an explosive, high-profile feud.
When wrestling writers aren’t clear about what’s literally and objectively happening during a show, you know something is wrong.
Written by Angeline Phu
