10 Things We Learned From The Post-Backlash WWE SmackDown (May 23)
6. The Art Of Dying
Sami Zayn beat Baron Corbin for the second time in three days, but just like their protracted Backlash encounter, WWE really wants you to know that Corbin can comfortably kick the sh*t out of the former NXT Champion.
On Sunday, 'The Lone Wolf' decimated 'The Underdog from the Underground' in their match before Sami hit a lucky Helluva Kick for the victory. On Tuesday's broadcast, Zayn rolled Corbin up in 21 seconds, then took a merciless beating all over the arena for several minutes until referees finally spared his life. Fans in the front row laughed and smiled at the fallen babyface.
Over two separate evenings, WWE has informed the audience that Sami is vastly inferior to Baron from a physical standpoint, but that Corbin is too lumbering and stupid to do anything about it when it actually counts. A microcosm of WWE's almost formulaic failure in sustaining over characters, the company has taken two performers with very different but very notable upsides, and reduced the pair of them to useless entities.
It wasn't even the worst example of it on this show (more on that later) but the toxic parity booking philosophy that plagues the content-heavy company will continue to prove disastrous for the organisation. Earlier in the night, both men were included in the Money In The Bank match, but why, as a boss, would Shane McMahon want either chasing a golden opportunity after this?