This Week’s Best and Worst from the WWE

Luckily as WWE fans, we have no shortage of content to consume. This past week though, was especially gluttonous. With Backlash on Sunday we had a minimum of 8 hours of wrestling to digest. So even though you likely neglected your spouse or forgot to properly feed your pets, it’s OK, because wrestling is your truest marriage.

For WWE, establishing the company’s direction was top priority. The WrestleMania hangover should be about done, and it’s time to start adding layers to stories that will run the summer.

In the week that saw the gleeful debut of Shinsuke Nakamura and cattle prod moment of Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion, there’s plenty of remarking to do.

But let’s cut to the chase. In 8-hours of TV, there’s bound to be some forgettable if not putrid moments. We can only hope t hat the good outweighs the bad, though. And this week WWE accomplished just that.

Let’s keep things binary and break down the absolute best and absolute worst things that happened in WWE this week

The Best

The Rise and Fall of Breezango

It was so refreshing to watch a tag team forgo generic a formula and take comedic risks. As fans, it clear we’ve been starved of original entertainment as we all reacted to the Fashion Files like they were episodes of Seinfeld. As good as they were, Breezango’s matches with the Usos were even better.

At Backlash, The Usos and Breeango uncorked the most enjoyable match in recent memory. Was it a 5 star wrestling clinic? Absolutely not, and thank God it wasn’t. Wrestling has made a shift to sterile, emotionless competition. While they provide wonderful moments of physical ability, they lack long term, bankable connection. The trend of high work rates is fine enough, but it’s an abandonment of what WWE does best.

Even though a lot of the match was silly, the crowd ate it up. Through humor alone, Breezango was warmly adopted. So when they lost, it stung. And when they lost again on Smackdown, it was damn near heartbeaking.

How did this happen? Breezango went from getting wrecked by Nikka Bella to the most deserving tag team on Smackdown in about 2 weeks. It took a few clever vignettes and some fun in the ring and we had been swooned. This is what wrestling is. Actually no, this is what WWE is. The trick is not to have a jaw dropping moveset, it’s making people care, on an emotional level, while your doing it. Bravo Breezango!

The Worst

Paul Heyman Shines Up Finn Balor

Before jumping into this, let’s acknowledge that Paul Heyman showering Finn Balor with compliments could be an angle. We only what WWE gave us this week and they reserve the right to change things. But, with history as our guide, that won’t be happening.

WWE had fallen in a lazy habit of using dialogue to enhance characters. We’re always being told about wrestlers rather than letter their actions speak. Maybe WWE thinks they can hypnotize us into thinking their wrestlers are well developed. Whether its JBL screaming about how big of lunatic Dean Ambrose is or Michael Cole screeching about Sasha Banks being the boss, there is little room for fans to make their own decision. This is a bad thing.

So when Paul Heyman took the microphone an blatantly partook in this lazy form of exposition, I felt a little surprised. In essence he picked Finn Balor as the favorite to become the Universal Title’s number 1 contender. He went on to claim that Finn Balor is the most talented in-ring worker in the WWE. Heyman actuality went so far as to literally speak for Balor by delving into what he (Heyman) guessed Balor’s feelings were about Brock Lesnar.

And for the most part, Finn just stood there. He would eventually hit a couple pull-string babyface lines and the segment wrapped.

First of all, when did the “most talented in ring worker” become such a compliment? Wasn’t Dean Mallenko considered to be this? Either way, instead of letting Balor communicate, Heyman told him, and us, that Balor’s time at the top was imminent. Although this may be true, this feel slike WWE showing their hand, a fallacy that has plagued Roman Reigns for years now. Instead of telling us how great Finn is, why not allow him to be so? Put him in creative situations. Give him unique dialogue. Allow him to grow organically. Don’t just have him win matches for the sake of looking strong. Don’t tell us, show us.

If Breezango, a forgotten duo, can win our hearts in 2 weeks of thoughtful writing, what can Finn Balor be with months of dedication.

WWE, clean it up. Get creative.