The Blue Brand is running on fumes
If you watched the May 22 episode of SmackDown, you probably needed a double shot of espresso to make it through the segments. The show felt like a house show that accidentally got a TV budget. We had Tiffany Stratton successfully defending the Women's United States Championship in an open challenge, yet it felt like a filler match you'd see before the real main event. Tiffany Stratton winning her first open challenge was exactly what we expected from the current booking office.
The creative team is clearly allergic to long-term storytelling right now. Rhea Ripley made an appearance, which is usually a guaranteed pop, but even that felt hollow. It is the wrestling equivalent of a jump scare in a horror movie that you saw coming from three miles away. Rhea Ripley showing up didn't move the needle on any actual storylines; it was just a visual to keep the social media interns busy.
The Bloodline melodrama is hitting a wall
Then we have the Tama Tonga and Shinsuke Nakamura situation. Nakamura is out here cutting promos asking if Tama is a coward, which is a classic trope that has been done to death since the territory days. If I hear one more veteran wrestler call someone a coward for a post-match attack, I’m throwing my remote through the drywall. Nakamura is actively trying to bait Tama Tonga into a program, but the intensity is missing. It feels like they are just waiting for instructions from the back rather than fighting for survival.
We also have Blake Monroe grinding out a main roster debut that left everyone scratching their heads. You don't just throw a newcomer into the shark tank of Friday night television without a hook, yet here we are. Blake Monroe’s first outing lacked either the pyro or the push to make people care. Why debut talent on a show that feels like it was written on the back of a napkin during a lunch break?
The booking misses the mark
The upcoming Axiom vs. The Miz match being pushed for next week is a perfect example of this. Putting a high-flyer with legitimate technical chops against a guy who has been working the same schtick for 20 years is a choice. Axiom vs. The Miz feels like a match designed to eat up ten minutes of airtime while the writers figure out who is actually going to be in the World Cup cycle follow-up programs. It's safe, it's predictable, and it's boring.
Ultimately, the May 22 episode was a lukewarm bath of missed potential. We are heading into a busy summer with major sporting events like the World Cup stealing eyeballs, and WWE is out here playing it safe. They need more than just one-off open challenges and stale vet callouts to keep the audience engaged. If the main event scene doesn't tighten up, they will lose the crowd before the summer even peaks.
