Main evens need stakes, not just autograph sessions
I sat through the entirety of the Wade Keller Post-Show following the July 24 SmackDown, and my first thought was just how much effort they are putting into the Cody Rhodes and CM Punk program. It is a massive draw, sure. But listening to Keller and White dissect the booking, I realized they are trying to sell a face-versus-face main event purely on name recognition rather than organic heat. We have seen this before. It feels like 1990s WCW whenever they had nowhere to go, so they just threw two big shirts in the ring and hoped the crowd wouldn't notice the lack of a coherent story.
When you look at the strategy discussed on the podcast, specifically regarding how to position this main event, you have to wonder if they have forgotten that wrestling works better when someone actually hates someone else. Cody is effectively the polished corporate hero, and Punk is the jaded anti-establishment figure who somehow became the establishment. If you make them both act like professional, respectful wrestlers, the tension evaporates. You cannot build a marquee SummerSlam clash on mutual respect alone. It ends up being a glorified exhibition match that belongs on a house show card, not the final segment of a premium live event.
The GM contract signing habit just won’t die
Another thing that came up in the 136-minute marathon of audio is the contract signing between Nick Aldis and Gunther. As PWTorch recently highlighted, there is an obsession with getting the office brass into the ring. We have moved past the era where Vince McMahon or Eric Bischoff had to insert themselves into every major feud to justify their screen time, yet here we are. Inserting an authority figure into a segment that should be about the physical dominance of the talent is a massive missed opportunity.
Gunther deserves a spotlight, not a scene partner who happens to be wearing a blazer. If you are going to put the GM in the ring, do it to advance a story about power dynamics, not just to facilitate a desk-flipping spot that we have seen 1000 times since the year 2000. It dilutes the intensity. When Gunther speaks, people should be terrified, not looking over his shoulder to see if an executive is going to take a bump.
Sami Zayn and the art of the midcard pivot
The discussion about Sami Zayn getting a match at SummerSlam was arguably the most grounded part of the breakdown. Zayn is the heart of the show, yet the booking feels reactionary. While it is great to see him on the card, the way he is being inserted feels like they realized three weeks ago they didn't have a spot for him and shuffled the papers until something stuck. That is a hallmark of short-term booking.
You cannot keep using Sami as the guy who fills the gaps. He has the kind of connection with the audience that only legends possess, yet he is treated like the person you put in a program when the main eventers are busy with their own ego battles. It smacks of a lack of vision. If they actually cared about the long-term payoff, his current arc would be positioned as the co-main event, not an afterthought that needs a 136-minute podcast to justify its existence.
The smoke clears but the pressure rises
We are currently operating in an industry that is trying to move forward while constantly looking over its shoulder. With the recent developments in the Janel Grant legal filing, the air feels different, yet the televised product is trying to pretend like nothing happened. The sheer disconnect between the corporate reality and the bright lights of the ring is becoming a theme. You have to wonder if the creative team is so busy worrying about the next contract signing or the next big face-off that they are missing the forest for the trees.
SummerSlam match order is a delicate game of chess. If you bury your technical talent early in the night, you lose the crowd by the time the main event hits. I worry that if this show is front-loaded with filler segments and authority figure antics, the actual wrestling is going to suffer by the 11:00 PM hour. I personally think they are setting themselves up for a letdown. You cannot build a foundation on recycled tropes, no matter how famous the stars involved might be.
At the end of the day, a wrestling show needs to be about friction. It needs to be about the stuff that actually makes your blood boil. Watching a podcast break down a match order is fun for those of us who obsess over the numbers, but it also reveals how mechanical this whole thing has become. If you need 136 minutes of analysis just to figure out how to sell a main event, maybe the main event isn't built as well as you thought it was.
