Chapter 1: What are the major storylines discussed in Smackdown?
Robert Leverick here on the Busted Open After Dark podcast where we hit everything from SmackDown in Tulsa.
This is the Busted Open podcast.
I've seen some complaining out in internet land about the use of the bloodline and them going back to that well. And part of that I get. It's like, oh, you did this for all these years, you did this for all these years, and now you're doing it again. Are you creatively bereft? Do you have no new ideas?
And it's not exactly as if Solo Sokoa is at the peak of his powers or his faction is at the peak of its powers. But at the same time, it makes logical sense.
Chapter 2: How is the Bloodline storyline evolving?
So therefore, I don't really have too much of an issue or a problem with it because you're talking about a legit family. You know, it's not a bloodline that is concocted. It is not, you know, made up. It is not, you know, just a cute tag that is put on a group. It is the literal definition of this family tree. This wrestling, you know, wrestling has more than one royal family.
Yeah, you know, and some of them have the last name Fatu. And Jacob Fatu is being elevated in the process here. He gets the big win over Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania, of course. And then he's thrust into the main event picture with Roman Reigns going into backlash. And look... It's hard to believe he has a chance in hell of leaving Backlash as the champion.
Roman just got the title back at WrestleMania after the long reign he had, after not having it for two years. Then he finally gets that championship back. But at the same time, it depends on how they execute it.
But if you look at the promos he's cut against Roman, if you look at the interactions he's had with Roman, and now the role that he's playing on SmackDown, he's in that main event picture. He's in that main event scene. And that's about all you could ask for, I think, for Jacob Fatu, given when he came into the company and given where he is right now.
So as a first feud for Roman Reigns, was there a more logical choice? Probably not. You know, that checks a lot of boxes. So you can, you know, complain all you want about it being a bloodline redo. But what was the crowd chanting at the end of SmackDown tonight? OTC, OTC, OTC. Original ticket rules. Champs, whatever you want to call them.
These are the people that are buying their tickets, they're sitting in those seats, and they are chanting for Roman Reigns. And all of this is the Roman Reigns universe. SmackDown built on the back of Roman Reigns in recent years. The Bloodline, a reflection of Roman Reigns. Main event, Jey Uso. because of Roman Reigns.
Hell, Sami Zayn, which we'll get to a little bit later, elevated to a level due to Roman Reigns. Solo Sokoa got a run for a while there because of Roman Reigns. So all of this is in that Roman Reigns family tree, or bloodline, if you will, so it makes sense that they would go back to that well. It's not a cheap trick. as much as it is, why wouldn't it happen?
Why wouldn't Roman, after he wins the title, logically go back to the Usos? That's who he had around him when he had all that success. Remember Cody Rhodes back then said, you know, you're going to be there all alone at some point. Now he's got the title back. He goes back to what made him comfortable. So how do you play off that? You play off that with the players around him.
the Usos, who were involved tonight, and of course, Jacob Fatu, who gets elevated in the process. What do you make of how SmackDown resolved? 877-344-4893. You know, the tension, the friction between Fatu and the Usos. Now you have the MFTs involved in this as well. So a big bloodline dynamic heading into Backlash.
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Chapter 3: What impact does Roman Reigns have on the current roster?
When you talk about Trick Williams, who's still involved with the program with Sami Zayn, as I mentioned, we'll get to that in a little bit. when you discuss, obviously, Obafemi, who beats Brock freaking Lesnar at WrestleMania, and even Javon Evans, who has really made a name for himself, made an impression for himself with his high-flying exploits and all of that.
Ricky Saints was in that mix as well. I mean, look, Ricky Saints beat They might want us to. I think I was on the air. I was on the After Dark show that night. They may want a men in black mind erase that we saw that considering where Obafemi is. But it's hard to believe, you know, that Ricky Saints beat Obafemi. Obafemi and where their plans are for him going forward.
He gets Cody Rhodes in his first match up on the main roster, but I'm not sure I'd buy him as a main event player going forward. That's going to be on him to see what he can do with the material that he's given, how the crowd winds up receiving him. But to me, this was more a showcase for Cody Rhodes and a chance for Ricky Saints to say, like, I faced Cody Rhodes in my SmackDown debut.
But what it really was, was a vehicle to get to another main event, a future main event, Gunther and Cody Rhodes. And that, to me, is money. Because ever since Gunther retired John Cena, you've wondered, when's the other shoe dropping? Right. Like, where's the payoff for this? Where do we go from here? This guy's the ring general. We get it. He's the career killer and all that.
And, you know, he did it with Goldberg, knocked on the door of Goldberg's career and ended it. He did it, obviously, with John Cena. He did it with AJ Styles. But there's only so many careers a guy can run through before, you know, you can't continue that gimmick and that trend.
And, you know, as much as that's going to define Gunther's career, probably when it's all said and done, because it's, you know, it's something that, you know, just like Brock Lesnar ending the Undertaker streak in a way is his defining moment in his career. Not everybody does it by a title. You know, that was such a wow shock factor moment. In some ways, it was the defining moment of his career.
And you know how The Undertaker himself, I don't think was ever defined by the titles. There were other defining moments in his career. So there are anomalies that way. The defining moment of Gunther's career is probably always going to be retiring John Cena. Nonetheless, you do that to build to something. And it felt like he'd been stuck in park for a little bit there.
And now they shifted it into drive against Cody Rhodes. And that's a real match. That's a real main event. And Gunther is a real threat to take that title. So I like that aspect of SmackDown tonight. It felt like, in many ways, the biggest thing that happened. Because it did set that up. And when you think about Cody Rhodes and Gunther, you lick your chops a little bit, right?
You go, all right, that has a five-star potential kind of rating on whatever scale you're registering. And it finally puts Gunther into that main event picture he needed to be in after he beat John Cena. What did you think of that? 877-344-4893. 877-344-4893. Want to hear from the nation. Of course, as always, it is Busted Open After Dark here on a Friday night following SmackDown.
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Chapter 4: How does Jacob Fatu's rise affect the Bloodline narrative?
Just like Gunther got it with beating John Cena. JC Jane got a pin over Charlotte Flair. I don't care how it went down. When you get a pin over Charlotte Flair, clean in the ring... That means something. Clean, you know, stretching the word clean. But her shoulders were down and Jane was on top of her and the ref counted one, two, three. Clean in that sense.
Anytime you get a pinfall victory over Charlotte Flair is a big deal. And you heard the crowd reception to that group. They are ready to boo. They are ready to loathe. And that means it is playing out perfectly. So Kudos to Fatal Influence. Kudos to where they were elevated there. And kudos for that all coming together beautifully on this edition of SmackDown. 877-344-4893.
Andre, I know that stuck out to you. You were texting me about that.
Yeah, Fatal Influence, when they were in NXT, was already a dominant, like, faction as is. They came in, like, a little bit stacked up in a sense that you had three veteran talents in the NXT pool. I'm not talking veterans, like, 10, 20-year veterans, just, like... Just within the roster of NXT, they were already like a super group that came in and dominated shop.
So on an NXT scale, we could perceive and we saw through the years that Fatal Influence is dominant. Now, as they cross over to the main roster, my main question is, can they do the same with SmackDown? And if so, how? I think they laid the road for it here.
You put Fatal Influence against Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, two of the names that have conquered all of WWE programming since roughly 2015. And now they're building Fatal Influence. There is a huge potential here for Fatal Influence to be like what Undisputed Era was a couple of years back. where they will be so damn dominant that you can't reject that.
They'll be tag champs, JC will be women's champ, or JC will be United States champ, and they'll run SmackDown.
And you heard what the crowd told you, right? The crowd was into it. They were feeling it the right way, the right kind of heat. They had the right kind of heat in that set-up.
It's not go-away heat. That's the best part of it. And I know that the people are debating about go away heat, like if central Jersey's a state or not, but it is a thing. And what the fatal influence showed is go away. Heat is extremely different from what real pure heel heat looks like. If you need anybody to learn what heat is, JC's debut from last week and her match tonight tells it all.
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Chapter 5: What is the significance of Cody Rhodes' return to action?
And I was telling them, like, guys, like, you know, you don't want to be too hyperbolic in the moment. So I couch my language. I'm careful with my language. I speak professionally. But I say... I said... That's as good a match as you'll ever see. Like, you can nitpick. You can say, you know, this was better. Steamboat and Savage from WrestleMania 3 is better.
Or Taker and Shawn Michaels from 25 is better. But... It's right there. Like, you know, like you don't see better matches than you saw from Roman Reigns and CM Punk. So I was psyched and elated. And my youngest, Rohan, goes to me after, can we watch the Dan Housen punching the balls segment again? Okay, that definitely worked, right?
And every day, shout out to Mr. Brandon at his school, literally every day when I pick up Rohan from school, what does he say to his teacher on the way out? You are cursed. And you know what else he says to him? You are toxic. So these characters and these bits... are working. Mr. Brandon, also a fan of the channel. You know, so shout out Pro Wrestling Nation 24-7.
Obviously busted open after dark. Robin Ludberg here with you tonight. But I like to show up in the love when I can, and it fits right into the, it was naturally, seamlessly weaved in to what I'm actually talking about here. And that's Kit Wilson, Dan Housen, and The Miz. I mean, whether it's your cup of tea or not, it is working with that intended audience.
And I find myself laughing at some of the bits. You know, I like the Dan Housen involvement much more than the Jelly Roll involvement with Kit Wilson. And it served its purpose, especially when SmackDown's a three-hour show. Like, when you got a three-hour show, there's a lot you got to program. to get through there. So a good use of the time.
And those characters and those bits are resonating with the audience, especially, I think, with the kids. But you saw it with Trick Williams and Sami Zayn and the gingerbread man. You saw it with Dan Housen, The Miz, and Kit Wilson. Comedy bits. You saw it with Joe Henry on Monday, which, you know, that... I was singing it before. I've been singing it all week. It made it catchy enough.
Pick the right person to call out in that regard for it to land. And boy, oh, boy, did that land. So on the on the NXT front with the call ups. WWE is hitting on all cylinders. And with the comedy bits right now, WWE is hitting on all cylinders. We'll see, you know, how the bloodline stuff shakes out. We'll see how Gunther and Cody Rhodes, how they wind up building that.
how they, you know, recover from some of the speed bumps on the road to WrestleMania. But there are definitely some things going their way currently.
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