SmackDown: The Land of Declining Opportunity

Every week someone on SmackDown Live someone calls the show “the Land of Opportunity.” It’s a fair statement given that Jinder Mahal is the WWE champion, Baron Corbin is now walking around with the Money in the Bank briefcase, and Carmella has the Women’s Money in the Bank briefcase. If you had told people a year ago that those three would be in their respective title scenes, you would have been committed like late 90’s Kane.

But, here we are. “The Land of Opportunity” is ringing true and ratings continue to decline.

I’m all for WWE giving an opportunity to guys like Mahal and Corbin and a lady like Carmella. The issue is that no one cares about those cashing in on the opportunities because they’ve all been…out of nowhere.

Jinder Mahal won the #1 Contender’s Battle Royal after losing televised single’s matches to Finn Balor, Sami Zayn, and Mojo Rawley in matches that totaled less than ten minutes. To their credit, they tried to heat up Mahal with singles victories over Zayn and AJ Styles, but crowning someone the #1 contender off multiple squash losses doesn’t exactly make people want to see that guy fight for the title.

Despite the falling ratings, I’m not ready to 100 percent write off Mahal. His title victory over Randy Orton was a rather pedestrian match, but the Money in the Bank rematch was above average despite having the exact same finish as their first bout. The problem is, we’re likely getting a third bout with Orton and it seems obvious that no one cares to see it.

Baron Corbin won the men’s Money in the Bank match on Sunday in a great match. While is was a predictable victory, it was the correct call. But, once again, WWE ran into the same issue of giving a guy an opportunity out of nowhere.

Prior to pulling down the briefcase, Corbin was the guy who failed to win the Intercontinental title from Dean Ambrose and then proceeded to lose around 50 straight matches to Sami Zayn. Now, he’ll walk around with the briefcase, likely continue to lose matches before eventually cashing in and winning the WWE title in the most heel way possible.

But who could care? JBL can sell Corbin as “an unpredictable lone wolf or destroys everyone in his path” as much as he wants, but we’ve all seen him lose match after match. He has the briefcase, “which essentially guarantees that he’ll become the WWE champion” but they’re running into the same problem they ran into when they put the belt on Mahal. They are telling the audience that Corbin and Mahal are losers before crowning them as the ultimate winner.

On Raw, Samoa Joe is about to challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal title. Prior to winning the Fatal Five Way at Extreme Rules; Joe beat the hell out of Seth Rollins in a DQ loss, submitted Rollins in a tag match, and pinned Bray Wyatt in a triple threat match. They made sure to heat Joe up prior to him winning the opportunity to challenge for the title. It’s easy to see why people actually care about Joe vs. Lesnar. You have guys win matches, you present them as badasses, and you have them fight.

On the women’s side, they actually did a good job of making Carmella look like a threat prior to Money in the Bank. Let’s ignore the fact that she’s not a good worker and doesn’t get a reaction. She understands her character and James Ellsworth gets heat for her. She pinned Naomi twice and was on the winning team at Backlash and the most recent SmackDown. Carmella became a believable title contender over the last couple of months.

But they botched the actual opportunity in the Money in the Bank match. Having Ellsworth helping Carmella would have been fine. He could have pushed her up the ladder the same way Rhino helped Christian up the ladder at WrestleMania 17. But to actually be the one who climbs the ladder and unhooks the briefcase was a bit insulting. The unhooking of the briefcase is “the moment” for the winner. It’s the shot and video that is replayed over and over in Money in the Bank promos and promos before/after the winner cashes in. Carmella doesn’t get that moment. She just got Ellsworth tossing her the briefcase.

There is opportunity on SmackDown. Guys and girls who were doing next to nothing last year are getting a chance to shine. The problem is, no one cares.

Take this opportunity to be my friend on twitter @jeremylambert88