Kross needs a better finisher. His rub to the back of the head doesn't work.

I think his finisher is still the Kross Jacket. I think Wade Barrett's bull hammer finish was more effective because the opponent could see it coming and sell it a lot better.

His finishing move should be getting his opponent to forfeit in exchange for a romp with Scarlet.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Was I just jumped by the guy last seen wearing bondage and a helmet? I’ve had better Fridays…</p>&mdash; Drew McIntyre (@DMcIntyreWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/DMcIntyreWWE/status/1555750399071633409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Drew shouldn’t talk with the Sword of Overcompensation.

Kross looks small and when he hits them I hear this lil cartoon noise in my head like "DINK!" and laugh.


Barrett, maybe it was just his delivery, made it look MUCH more impactful.

So re-package him as Godfather 2.0?

Drew would actually be great if he stopped cracking jokes and stopped trying to be relatable and endearing.

He is better as the intensely driven badass he was as a heel.

Didn't he not win a whole lot as a heel?

Yeah but thats not his fault

Drew shouldn’t be doing the cheesy face stuff as much anymore. Even so, I just don’t care that much about him. His 2020 Rumble win was great. He’s a talented guy. It’s just that he’s…a bit just there for me.

Doing a bit of Noid fantasy booking here.

They should have the sand timer continuously go down and tease it being a match with Kross v Reigns. When the timer runs out just before the match at a PPV out walks not Kross but Bray Wyatt flanked by Kross and Scarlett.

Or Bray Wyatt hijacks the gimmick only for Kross to come back and feud with him.

I’m really not stoked about the rumored Bray Wyatt return. If they do bring him back, I hope he’s a much more grounded character. I guess him being behind a bunch of “budget cuts” returning to the company could be kind of interesting.

As long as they bring him back as ‘Cult leader’ Bray.

Seeing as he always gets cheered anyways, he should come back as the cult leader again but instead of being all doom and gloom he should be super charismatic about it. Like seriously have him do the whole white savior Jesus gimmick like an actual cult.

lol if they did that because eventually Bray would start showing up wearing Rolexes and driving a Lambo because of how dedicated he is to his character work.

He should channel Joseph Seed.

Here are some SmackDown thoughts:

* The show opening with McAfee making fun of Corbin made sense. I love McAfee’s energy. He takes WWE shtick and raises it to an acceptable level. Ricochet’s line to Corbin was lame, and I hate the “let’s make our own match” trope, but it made sense and was “dynamic” in the way Paul Heyman often does television, with things threading together. And at least there was an active protagonist here.

* I’m glad Ricochet has gone back to long tights. I don’t know when that change happened, but it suits him.

* Crowd is into Corbin as a heel and Ricochet as a face. Good match! Commentary is better than I remember. Told a good story of Corbin having his mind on McAfee. Obviously heading towards another match. Ricochet got a win with a gorgeous Shooting Star Press. Simple stuff, nothing wrong with this at all.

* A detail I’ve been noticing about these shows is that Raw achievements are kept off SmackDown and SmackDown achievements are kept off Raw. It’s a little detail, but if you’re going to do a roster split, it makes sense. No mention of Corbin or Ricochet as US Champs because that’s a Raw belt at the moment. They could have been doing that for a while, but I noticed it this week.

* Sami Zayn so entertaining. I think he and Kevin Owens will be the guys to take the belts off The Usos. Maybe that’s a Mania match?

* Love McAfee’s enthusiasm for Nakamura.

* Classic SmackDown moments are a good idea. Use that history. Love the first SmackDown theme. Reminds me of better times.

* SmackDown feels like a “better show” than Raw.

* Nakamura and Ludvig Kaiser had a good match. Nakamura so good. Seems to have a little extra pep with Triple H back. He doesn’t seem afraid of anyone, which is good for his presentation. Gunther such a good heel, even at ringside. Love his trepidation about facing Nakamura. Shinsuke over with the crowd too.

* The SmackDown Women’s Division sucks. It’s really bad. Liv Morgan’s heel turn is working like a charm. But they need some women who connect and feel “all there” as workers and fast. Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks and maybe a few others from NXT would be welcome. They should consider bringing the belts together and having someone a bit better float between the shows.

Feels like the womens division should for sure have one title but at the same time I doubt they do that any time soon with USA being mad about the unified mens titles already.

* Kofi Kingston is over. The Viking Raiders are pretty good, it’s just hard to care.

* Roman Reigns is on a different level. Karrion Kross…meh. I’m waiting to see how this all fits together.

I don’t think the networks really care. I think WWE will keep the belts separate because they want to “create stars” and they feel that more women’s belts highlights more women.