WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray believes that two matches on the recent “WWE SmackDown” didn’t get enough of the spotlight due to other stars on the show.
Last week’s show saw John Cena make his final appearance — and match — on the blue brand, where he faced Sami Zayn, before Brock Lesnar interrupted them. The night also saw the return of AJ Lee to WWE, and these two blockbuster moments stole most of the spotlight.
“See, to me, it’s like, and this is very old school booking: if you’re booking the show, how do you expect anything to follow Cena and Brock other than the return of AJ Lee?” he asked.
When co-host Dave LaGreca suggested that the norms of the business usually don’t allow important matches and segments to go back-to-back, Ray questioned that thought process.
“Okay, you could have put everything before that and ended with the Cena, Sami, Brock, and then into AJ Lee and Punk. Who taught you that you had to put something in between?” asked Ray. “And that’s my mentality, since nothing can compare to those two segments — nothing is following John. Nothing is following a match that John and Sami can have, because Sami is really freaking good at what he does. Pain in the a*s, but really, really good at what he does. And oh, by the way, here’s Brock as a surprise. Who’s following that? And my point is, the two matches that they had in between, nobody followed it.”
SmackDown matches were set up for failure, says Ray
John Cena opened “WWE SmackDown,” following which Sami Zayn interrupted him and challenged him to a match, before Brock Lesnar attacked both of them. This was followed by a match between Damian Priest and Aleister Black, and Giulia vs. Michin for the WWE Women’s United States Championship, both of which Bully Ray felt were overshadowed by the aforementioned moments. Ray thinks that the audience in the Allstate Arena in Chicago was uninterested in the Priest-Black and Giulia-Michin bouts.
“I can make a great argument for why you would do that [put the Cena-Zayn-Lesnar and AJ Lee return back-to-back] because there’s nobody that can follow — and nobody did follow Cena, Sami, and Brock. It’s those two matches in between … go back and listen to the people. The people were uninterested. They could have cared less. It’s almost like those matches are set up for failure. Not deliberately. But what are they supposed to do?” he asked. “I just saw Cena and Sami have a great match. I just got Brock. What the f**k are Aleister and Damian, Giulia and Mia supposed to do?”
AJ Lee’s big return took place right after the WWE Women’s United States Championship match, where Giulia successfully retained her title. When co-host Dave LaGreca asked if he would have put the two big segments on different shows, he rejected the idea, saying he would have placed both at the end of the show and given the rest of the stars an “opportunity to succeed.”
