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| Friendships blooming on this week's Smackdown! Photo Credit: WWE.com |
I feel like these three have teamed together before, but that could just be because of the general atmosphere of sameness on Smackdown lately. At any rate, Ziggler is now apparently best bros with the Usos, and while he's usually a terrible person to everyone, he managed to resist tossing both his team mates over the top rope after they won their match, unlike when he teamed with Goldust and R-Truth a couple of weeks ago. Hey, if Dolph Ziggler has finally decided to be a good friend, more power to him. Their triple superkick did look pretty cool. Not that his newfound status extended to coming to help out Roman Reigns later in the show, so I guess his family membership is on some kind of scale.
At the behest of Chris Jericho the trio took on and beat the New Day in advance of the upcoming tag title match at the Royal Rumble, and, yes, we have all been to this dance before. I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to deal with Midlife Crisis Jericho on Smackdown, but here we are. I guess if you live long enough, like to the ripe old age of 30, you get to see your favourite wrestler insist on wearing no shirt under his light-up jacket while making awful, awful jokes and being unbearably smug. My running theory on making this in any way palatable is that Jericho is trying to see just how terrible he can be and still have people cheer for him. It's totally just an elaborate, heelish ploy, right? Right? Guys?
Friend Who Finally Gets To Have a Turn – Alicia Fox
Alicia Fox actually got to have a match! For once it was Brie Bella having to stand on the sidelines and watch her team mate lose to Becky Lynch. So, yeah, it was a loss, but...Alicia Fox! Having a match for once! Truth be told, I'm actually starting to feel a bit sorry for Team Bella. I bet they're both counting the days until Nikki gets back.
Resurgent Friends – The Wyatt Family
Well, look who's allowed to be intimidating and dominant again. There's no way this will last much longer, but it was really nice to see Bray Wyatt beat the hell out of Ryback with the help of his Family. I mean, I'm always happy to see Ryback lose, but I also still hold out hope that Bray Wyatt can be an effective force in WWE. I never stop dreaming.
Should Just Be Friends Already – Titus O'Neil and Stardust
Or maybe they shouldn't be, since the powers that be apparently just love breaking these two away from perfectly serviceable friendships. I don't even have anything to say. We've all seen this match. A lot of us have hoped for more for both of these guys, and it hasn't happened, and it's probably never going to happen, so here we all sit in a friendship wasteland where nothing ever changes. Fine match, though.
Least Effective Friends – The League of Nations
I like the League of Nations and all, but I'm just happy not to have the Wyatt Family under this heading for once. In a match that oddly had no build-up all episode to the point that I actually forgot it was happening, the League took on Roman Reigns, in keeping with his new shtick of ALL OF THE ODDS ALL OF THE TIME. The match was not-so-oddly predictable, with Reigns taking damage but still overcoming all that odd jazz. It ended in disqualification, which I thought was an odd way to end Smackdown for the third week in a row. An odd series of post-bell confrontations ensued, with the Usos coming out to help Reigns (oddly, as I already mentioned, Ziggler didn't come with them, but neither did Dean Ambrose). Then the Wyatts popped in and just...vanished everyone other than Reigns, which I guess is an odd thing they can do now. The League didn't come off as very effective at all, but I did get to enjoy watching Breakable Barrett skedaddle out of the way of any potential danger. Reigns, of course, was oddly resilient against every single odd he faced. Odds. Odds odds odds.
See you all after the Royal Rumble: The Oddening.