10 Positive Developments In This Awful Post-WWE WrestleMania Season
8. The State Of SmackDown
By its own standards, SmackDown has caught fire post-WrestleMania, which is seriously impressive given the extent to which Road Dogg p*ssed on the sticks in those cold winter months.
Gone is the tiresome miscommunication between Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan which, if little else, is one bright spot of Daniel Bryan's thus far underwhelming return. Gone is the SmackDown Top 10 List and its woefully optimistic commitment to meticulous long-term storyboarding. Gone are the weird word graphics plastered across the screen, as if we needed any further reminder of how awful the actual writing can get.
In their place, SmackDown has, as aforementioned, finally grasped the blackly comedic eccentricities of Shinsuke Nakamura. The premise of Money In The Bank has helped, but SmackDown feels like a competition with purpose again, as particularly put over by Daniel Bryan's recent soul-destroyed sell-job following his qualifying loss to Rusev. Though an eternal novice in the pay-per-view arena, Carmella excels in the TV realm, and the material provided is a match for her amusing character work.
Match quality is on the rise, too, with Jeff Hardy and Daniel Bryan this week delivering a match rich in both content and emotion - with Bryan's next match promising something even better than that...