8 Ups & 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Aug 27)
5. Buddy's Broken Momentum
Perhaps we should stop using the word "momentum" when talking about WWE wrestlers. It might not even exist anymore.
Two weeks ago, Buddy Murphy got a nice little rub by pushing Roman Reigns to his limits on SmackDown. WWE immediately undermined this with a beatdown. Last week, the former Cruiserweight Champion went one further, besting Daniel Bryan in a riveting clash. Seconds later: beatdown. Now, with the wind in his sails and the announcers putting him over as a hot commodity, he loses to the stop-start Ali in their King of the Ring first-round match.
Are WWE trying to push this guy or not? Yes, it's fantastic that he's on our screens more, but constant flip-flopping isn't how you elevate guys: it's how you make the audience give even less of a sh*t.
Murphy is a hard enough worker and a good enough wrestler that he might get over in spite of all this, though his current "push" is bittersweet.