The Ring General crashes the return party

SmackDown was absolute chaos this week. We had a highly anticipated return, a debut that got overshadowed, and enough backstage drama to fill a subreddit. Cody Rhodes kicked off the blue brand by announcing he was cleared to return. The pop was massive.

Before Rhodes finished his promo, Ricky Saints interrupted. Fans were hyped to see the former NXT Champion get a crack at the top guy in his main roster debut. The match was highly competitive. Ricky hit a beautiful springboard moonsault and controlled the tempo early. He wasn't just a tackling dummy out there.

"Ricky getting the rub from Cody on night one is huge, even if he ate the pin," wrote one enthusiastic user on r/SquaredCircle. "You don't put a guy in there with the champ unless you see money in him down the line."

The cynics saw the matchup as a setup, and they were right. After Rhodes picked up the win, his celebration was cut violently short. Gunther arrived. He didn't just attack Rhodes; he locked in a brutal sleeper hold and choked the champion out completely. As Wrestling Inc noted, this sets up the next title program.

The reaction to Gunther stepping up is overwhelmingly positive. "Gunther choking out Cody is the exact injection of danger this title reign needed," posted a fan on X. "Cody has been fighting survivors. Gunther is an executioner."

I agree with the optimists. Rhodes operates best as the undeniable underdog fighting from underneath. Gunther is a walking brick wall who spent years treating the midcard like his personal punching bag. Setting up this program gives the main event scene a massive boost of urgency. However, Ricky Saints' debut felt completely wasted. Calling up an NXT Champion just to have him lose cleanly and get forgotten in a post-match beatdown is rough. It was sloppy booking, and Ricky deserved a much better showcase.

The Punk vs. Rhodes mirage

If there is one thing wrestling fans love doing, it is fantasy booking CM Punk. A collision course with Rhodes has felt inevitable. The promos basically write themselves: the ultimate company man against the ultimate rebel. But Rhodes recently poured ice water all over those hopes in a recent interview.

"Who knows? It's difficult."

Rhodes admitted a match with Punk would be "very hard" to put together. The community did not take this well. Half the internet thinks Rhodes is working them, while the other half is genuinely annoyed.

"It's classic misdirection," argued a poster on a prominent wrestling forum. "He says it's difficult so that when the static hits, the pop is nuclear. They are just keeping us on the hook."

The contrarian view is much more bitter. "If they can't book their top babyface against their most controversial star, what are we even doing here? It's just backstage politics at this point," complained another frustrated fan.

My take? It's a work, but the frustration is valid. WWE has a terrible habit of teasing massive encounters and dragging their feet until the heat cools off. They bank on the audience staying hungry. You can only string fans along for so long. Right now, Rhodes has his hands full with Gunther, softening the blow. But if we go another year without this match, the missed opportunity will sting.

Liv Morgan goes to war with the fanbase

The Women's World Champion is fighting a war on two fronts. Inside the ring, Liv Morgan is dominating. Outside, she is battling her own fans over her controversial 'Trouble' entrance theme and music video.

WWE gave Morgan creative freedom to direct the music video. The result was deeply polarizing. Fans ripped into it online, calling it disjointed. Morgan isn't backing down. She recently called out the fans who doubted the track, standing firmly behind her choices.

"They let me have the ball."

She stated this defiantly regarding the creative control she was handed for the project.

The fan reactions are incredibly split. Hardcore Liv supporters are defending her right to experiment. "Wrestling needs more character-driven presentations," wrote a supporter on X. "Liv took a big swing. Just because you don't like the aesthetic doesn't make it objectively bad."

The critics are far less forgiving. "Creative freedom is great until you produce something that kills the arena vibe," countered a highly upvoted Reddit comment. "The song is flat. It doesn't sound like a champion's theme. It sounds like a mid-card act from a decade ago."

Honestly, the critics are right. Entrance music dictates the energy of a segment before a single word is spoken. 'Trouble' might mean a lot to Morgan personally, but it fails to translate to a massive stadium setting. Giving talent creative control is great, but there needs to be a filter. The theme does not hit the way a main event entrance should. It's a rare, glaring miss for a champion who has otherwise been doing spectacular work.

Bloodline massacres and dead gingerbread men

We cannot talk about SmackDown without mentioning the sheer violence Jacob Fatu unleashed. The Bloodline saga has had plenty of ups and downs, but Fatu operating as an unhinged wrecking ball is premium television. He completely dismantled the faction this week.

He launched his family into the steel steps, tore apart the ringside area, and screamed at the crowd like an absolute maniac.

"Fatu moving like a cruiserweight but hitting like a super-heavyweight is terrifying," noted an awestruck fan on a message board. "He just legitimized himself as the most dangerous guy on Friday nights."

For years, the Bloodline relied on their overwhelming numbers to maintain control. Now, one rogue enforcer is tearing down the entire empire from the inside out.

Amidst this serious drama, there was a bizarre segment where the "Gingerbread Man" was killed. A mascot? A weird backstage prop? A collective fever dream? Whatever it was, seeing a giant cookie brutally destroyed was the exact kind of campy nonsense that makes professional wrestling so brilliantly stupid.

"We went from Cody getting choked unconscious to a literal Gingerbread Man getting murdered. I love this stupid sport," joked a user on X.

It was incredibly jarring, but it got people talking. Sometimes, you just need a dash of absolute nonsense to break up the intense, high-stakes title feuds.

With WWE Backlash 2026 just six days away, the blue brand is in a strange transitional phase. The highs are incredibly high. Gunther stepping up to challenge Rhodes is a main event waiting to print money. Fatu destroying the Bloodline adds a layer of unpredictable chaos that the show desperately needed.

But cracks are showing. The clumsy handling of Ricky Saints' debut was a major booking error. The ongoing debate around Morgan's presentation is actively distracting from her actual title reign. And the constant teasing and retracting of the Punk match is starting to test everyone's patience. WWE has all the right pieces on the board right now. They just need to assemble them without tripping over their own feet.