5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (22 May - Results & Review)

3. So, The Tama and Nakamura Stuff Was Pointless?

The intro chastised WWE for failing to reward fans who pay attention to even the most peripheral stories on programming, and rightly so. Case in point: This business involving Tama Tonga and Shinsuke Nakamura. The latter has been trying to talk sense into Tama for months and months now. Shin hasn't kept it a secret that he thinks Tonga should leave Solo Sikoa's side and move away from the MFTs so he can reignite a career that was on fire in Japan.

That's a truly fun narrative, so leave it to the braintrust seen on WWE Unreal to fudge things by making a mockery of a story they themselves kicked off. On SmackDown, Tama stopped Solo from hitting his Samoa Spike on Nakamura before...hitting Shinsuke himself. For no reason. With no context. OK then. Remember this next time the company asks you to invest in a sub-plot.

Maybe there’s more to come and we'll get an explanation after all, but it kinda felt like the writers just washed away months of their own booking with this and don't plan on following up. That's a crying shame, 'cause Nakamura worked hard to make Talla Tonga look good in the opening match, and there was something to his tale with Tama.

Apparently, WWE disagrees with that sentiment. Do they realise how amateurish it looks when they spend months layering these stories then don't bother concluding them? Some may argue that Tama hitting Naka is his answer. Nah, not having it. Stories that linger as long as this one has need some proper payoff.