WWE Raw, SmackDown takeaways: Thank you for being a friend

Driving forward key WrestleMania plot points was the focus of both this week’s episodes of WWE Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.

This week’s editions of WWE’s Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live were much in the tradition of the last few weeks’, mostly existing in service to WrestleMania, which is now just over one week away. As such, some of the event’s storylines were advanced or at least crystalized, while others remained in a holding pattern until April 7 can propel them elsewhere.

And in terms of SmackDown, things were incredibly similar to last week, in that the second hour of the show was dominated by a gauntlet match. While Kofi Kingston successfully ran his own last week before Vince McMahon sprung Daniel Bryan on him as a surprise, sixth opponent, leading to a Kingston loss and the re-re-revocation of his shot at Bryan’s WWE Championship at WrestleMania, this week it was his best friends and New Day teammates Xavier Woods and Big E who would have to run a tag team gauntlet of their own. Should they succeed, Kingston gets his match, says McMahon.

Woods and Big E also succeeded in their own efforts, taking on and defeating The Club, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev, The Bar, The Usos (more on that in a bit) and Bryan and Rowan. At the show’s close, McMahon confirmed that yes, finally, Kingston gets his match. And that’s where we start this week’s reflection on the WWE’s two flagship programs.

KofiMania, but for real this time

When, at the top of SmackDown, McMahon announced that Big E and Woods would have to run a five-team tag team gauntlet in order for Kingston to face Bryan at WrestleMania, it seemed like we — and The New Day — would be in store for a repeat of the previous week. We all sort of expected that, yet again, it wouldn’t matter exactly how many opponents New Day ultimately faced in order for McMahon to keep Kingston out of the championship picture. All hope would be false hope.

But Woods and E faced exactly five teams, with no surprises. The gauntlet itself was a great series of matches, with The New Day not only victorious every time but impressive in doing so. Even better was the behavior of their fourth opponents, The Usos, who understood the situation — what The New Day had gone through in pursuit of Kingston’s big moment — and who were among the wrestlers in the back cheering Kingston on the previous week and weren’t going to go for a cheap win. The Bar had put a post-match beating on The New Day following their defeat, including driving Big E through a table, and they would have been easy pickings for a pin. But, ultimately, The Usos said that they believe Kingston has earned and deserves his title shot, and forfeited their leg of the match.

The ending was also excellent, right out of the how-to-stop-a-big-man playbook, with Big E flipping the announce table on a prone Rowan on the outside of the ring. Rowan, the legal man in the match, was then counted out. Kingston came to the ring and The New Day shared emotional embraces, their loyalty, friendship and hard work leading, for once, to triumph.

Friendship, as any longtime viewer knows, is often used a sign of weakness in the WWE Universe and it is something that never lasts long in a storyline. The New Day has managed to keep their in-character friendship rolling for nearly five years, and the infectious joy that resonates with fans is made so special because it’s obvious that it comes from a genuine place of friendship and support that the three men provide each other.

There has been no wavering in Big E’s and Woods’ support of Kingston and no second-guessing entering such a brutal thing as a gauntlet match for Kingston’s WrestleMania moment. And when Kingston, himself, has expressed doubts about his worthiness to keep pursuing what seemed so elusive, Big E and Woods were both there to lift him up and remind him of just how great he really is.

While there is always the threat of WWE demolishing The New Day, splitting them up following whatever happens at WrestleMania, it would be far, far better to never turn the three against one another (or to at least wait months or years longer). A positive example of friendship — especially a healthy, supportive friendship between men — is something that the WWE should be promoting and upholding. There should be joy in professional wrestling, there should be good things that remain good; not all that makes us happy needs to be ripped away for the sake of conflict and storytelling. The New Day are the most joyful thing going in the WWE, and perhaps in pro wrestling as a whole. Taking that away leaves a massive, noticeable void and would leave only heartbreak in its wake.

Celebrity “wrestlers”

For weeks, Saturday Night Live performers Colin Jost and Michael Che have been running afoul of Braun Strowman. Jost, in particular, has drawn the ire of the Monster Among Men (with Che essentially on for the ride as guilty-by-association). Jost insulted Strowman (and the WWE) by claiming wrestling’s fake-ness a few weeks back on Monday Night Raw, tried to appease him with a too-small sports car that Strowman ripped apart with his bare hands and then, when given the chance to make amends via satellite on this week’s “Moment of Bliss” segment, only dug his hole further, landing both himself and Che spots in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Celebrity involvement in WrestleMania, whether as guests or as in-ring participants, is a common occurrence, so while this may be corny storyline — and, yet again unfair to Strowman for the second WrestleMania in a row — it’s nothing new. But celebrities in wrestling matches, at any point, also serve to put in greater contrast the wrestlers who won’t be getting in the ring in service for a chance for WWE to be featured on the news ticker on E! That’s the compromise of WrestleMania, though: The understanding that the event is supposed to be a pop-cultural celebration of WWE and pro wrestling tailored for a more casual, mainstream viewer. Still, it’s a shame that it’s Strowman who will be among the fodder for this cannon.

Tying up loose WrestleMania threads

Details about additional WrestleMania matches were among the more important developments of this week’s episodes of Raw and SmackDown. For the former, Triple H and Batista’s no-holds-barred match now has the added stipulation that if Batista wins, Triple H is through as an in-ring competitor. This came via a demand letter from Batista as narrated to us by H on Monday.

Finn Bálor also earned his right at (yet another) Intercontinental Championship match, by beating Bobby Lashley (the champion) and Jinder Mahal in a handicap match. Mahal was in the match in place of Lio Rush, who wasn’t cleared to compete after being thrown around by Strowman the previous Monday. Unsurprisingly, it was Mahal who took the pin, and perhaps this 1,001st meeting between Lashley and Bálor at WrestleMania will finally (finally, finally) mark the end of this exhausting feud. Here’s to Demon Bálor crawling out next week and disappearing Lashley for a while (and freeing Rush while he’s at it).

The Women’s Tag Team Championship match has now been confirmed as a fatal four-way, with champions Bayley and Sasha Banks taking on the IIconics, Tamina and Nia Jax and Natalya and Beth Phoenix. Yes, that’s right: Tamina gets a bigger WrestleMania spotlight than Asuka. Now, she’s not likely to get the win or be a champion, but: Still a bigger spotlight than Asuka.

On SmackDown, meanwhile, The Miz announced that his match against Shane McMahon will now be a falls count anywhere affair, meaning there will be ample opportunities for a red-faced McMahon to jump off of myriad things a man his age should not want to volunteer to jump off of. McMahon showed up with jokes, such as referring to The Miz as the “greatest Miz-stake” his parents ever made. Ooh. It burns.

Momentum?

Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch all participated on a beat-the-clock challenge on Raw to … establish momentum nearly a full 14 days before the three meet in the WrestleMania main event? Anyway. Rousey set the time, defeating The Riott Squad’s Sarah Logan in 1:25. Flair failed to beat Ruby Riott in the allotted amount of time. Ultimately, Lynch beat Rousey’s time in a win over Liv Morgan with seven seconds to spare. Guess it’s Flair who lacks the momentum heading into WrestleMania.

Oh, wait.

Never mind?

Meanwhile, Asuka’s path to WrestleMania now looks like this:

Next week, Rousey, Flair and Lynch will team up on Raw to take on The Riott Squad in a classic, can-they-coexist tag partnership between eventual opponents. Oh, and next week also marks the go-home Raw and SmackDown shows before April 7’s WrestleMania. Expect everything, but also nothing, to happen.