WWE SmackDown Review: #1 Contenders Determined, New WWE Tag Championships , Top 5 Current Championship Designs

Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite
podcast app so you don't miss a show, or head to WWE podcast dot
com and for all of these shows add free head over to Patreon dot com
slash WWE podcast until video We'll see you next Time's definitely sixteen. So got
just what your ass is? My ard? You can acknowledge me? What's
going on? Everybody, Guys and girls. Welcome back to another edition of
the SmackDown Review right here on the ww podcast. As always, I am
the host of this show, Michael Ritter. You can find me on x
at Michael five Ritter on Instagram at Michael Ridder five and also one of the
hosts of The Football Function podcasts, which is also available on all your podcasting
platforms, including on Patreon if you prefer an ad free listening experience. Speaking
of the Football Function, similar to the WWE Draft that's going to be taking
place next Friday on SmackDown. It's a two day event, so it's going
to be taking place on Friday and on Monday, but the NFL Draft will
also be taking place next Friday night as well, starts Thursday. That's round
one on Friday, Rounds two and three, and then four through seven take
place on Saturday. So going to be, you know, quite a bit
of stuff to cover as far as the WWE Draft takes place next week,
So it's going to be a loaded week for me because not only do I
have to cover that draft, but I also have to cover you know,
the NFL Draft too, So you know, I'm looking forward to It's always
an exciting time of year. I just wish the ww would wait, you
know, let let the NFL Draft kind of marinate, because that's the same
time every single year we've seen the WWE Draft take place, I mean over
the years taking place in October, it's taking place during the summer. I
even remember one of my favorite ones taking place in March. But if I'm
not mistaken, I think that last year or the year before, I want
to say last year, it took place during the NFL Draft as well.
So we'll figure out how to work that all out schedule wise. I will
still obviously get the SmackDown Review out to you on Saturday, most likely,
so I am you know, just so that's just how next week is going
to go down. But as far as tonight, or today, I should
say, because I'm coming to you from April twentieth aka Grim Reefer Day twenty
twenty four to break down the episode that took place last night, April nineteenth,
twenty twenty four from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Location breakdown brought to you by
none other than DJ Cuzmo, and I will be honest, I don't think
this episode of SmackDown was the best. I think that it was kind of
an okay episode of SmackDown, I guess now. I will say there were
great things that happened as far as like the number one contenders me announced obviously,
the tag team Championships being introduced. We saw a new twist kind of
with the bloodline, if you will, being that solo so Cola came out
dressed completely different than he really ever has before. But we'll get to all
that stuff as we break down this episode. Also on today's episode, at
the very end, we're gonna break out another Stack them Up Saturday in honor
of new championships being revealed. I'm going to do my top five championship designs,
just looking at all the different championships that are right now on the main
roster, not going to feature any n XT and I'm not going to feature
any duplicates. For example, the World typeweight Championship and the Women's World Championship
pretty much look identical outside of the color of the strap, So I'm not
going to put championships that look the same on multiple different spots on this list.
There's only five spots, so I want to kind of keep it unique
in that aspect. So anyways, let's go and get into this episode of
SmackDown, because it is going to be a little bit of a jam packed
show. Although you know, like I said, with the with the episode
of SmackDown not really being a high end episode, there's not going to be
much depth that needs to go into when if you're talking about each of these
segments. So we're gonna just roll through it per usual. But you know,
just bear with me here because you know, obviously some of these segments
just they weren't really noteworthy, just being completely honest. But let's get into
the way that the show started, which is a way that I appreciate,
starting the show with a one on one match, and not just a one
on one match, but a number one contenders match for the undisputed WWE Championship,
so a pretty important match. This is going to set the stage for
the main event for the next pay per view in France. I believe backlash,
So I just thought that right out the gay this show had potential,
and I just felt like maybe things happened a little bit backwards, I guess,
or just out of order, like if the order of the segments was
shuffled a little bit, like if you can move around some of these segments
and put the beginning match at the end the way that the show ended,
kind of throw that in the middle somewhere. I don't know. Maybe just
the order is actually what made this episode feel a little bit lackluster. But
La Night versus AJ Styles. We talked about this last week whenever it was
announced that we were going to get this match for the number one contenders spot
against Cody Rhoads, and I feel like the right person won here, AJ
Styles. It just makes sense. Even Cody Roads whenever he cut his promo
because he's in France or United Kingdom right now, I apologize he cut his
promo stating that it was going to be too Georgia boys going against each other.
AJ Styles versus Cody Rhoades, we get a heel, we get a
babyface. We've already kind of talked about the connections that these two have just
from their history and obviously where they've won championships at in the past. It
leads them to right here, right now and this opportunity. Does anybody expect
aedj just Styles to win this match? Probably not, Like I think that
at this point in Cody Roads run, he's just as much of a lock
as Roman Reigns was. You know, after WrestleMania every year, whenever we
knew, okay, Roman Rains isn't going to lose his championship at the Elimination
Chamber in Montreal to Sami's Ain, Like you knew that wasn't going to happen.
As much as we all love samuyse Ain and the twenty twenty three build
up to WrestleMania, thought that he deserved an opportunity because the whole Bloodline storyline
and him hitting Roman Reigns with a chair, We thought that it could have
made sense for samu'se Ain to get his moment, But at the end of
the day, nobody thought that, you know, he had a shot.
Same thing with Kevin Owens, who faced Roman Reigns in that run and many
many others. They were essentially just like a placeholder is a way to say
it, and not even a placeholder for a championship, a placeholder for like
a number one contender spot, which we knew eventually was going to be Cody
Rhoads and he was going to be the one to take on Roman Reigns.
And now I kind of feel like the tables have turned, and now Roman
Reigns is out of the picture, out of the equation at this point,
and Cody Roase is the one that seems like he's going to inevitably win no
matter what. Just at this point, I don't think he's going to go
on a multi year title reign. But the way that they've booked these champions
over the past year or so, they like to have him go on a
little bit of a lengthy run. Outside of Drew McIntyre, Drew McIntyre's run
was historically short. I do anticipate him getting that World Heavyweight Championship back at
some point, but other than a short rain here or there, Goonther went
on extremely long rain. Riear Ripley was on one until she got injured and
Obviously, Roman reigns is a historic reign that will probably not be seen again,
so aj Styles getting this opportunity is pretty huge. But he's been pretty
outspoken about his desire to retire at some point, very soon. He doesn't
want the crowd to see a shell of himself. He wants to go out
still as the phenomenal one like we remember. It almost makes me wish he
wouldn't have even changed his song, like just keep that great song that you've
had. I don't think that this one makes that big of a difference in
terms of his overall production and presentation as a wrestler, Like I think that
it could have been one of those historic songs that are synonymous with wrestlers,
like you know, like how many songs do you think of with Stone Cold,
Steve Austin and The Undertaker, you know, John Cena at this point.
And yeah, he's had like one other one in the past. But
for the most part, wrestlers don't have to change their song. If your
song hits, it doesn't matter if you're a heel or a babyface that the
song will still resonate with the crowd. And especially his song, I feel
like it was kind of a like a versatile song. It didn't seem like
it was strictly a babyface theme like to be even has a little bit of
an edge to it, Like I don't know, I just I like the
song. So I wasn't a fan of him making the switch, but it
is what it is. People do this all the time. I imagine he'll
go back to his old one at some point and the crowd will pop for
it. Next up, Solosika shown getting out of a blacked out car,
similar to Roman Reigns and the way he used to do it. So you
can tell right away that they're trying to paint that picture in our head that
he's the new tribal chief, or at least raised the suspicion as to damn,
Like, what's Soloska doing at this point? Is he trying to force
it? Is he trying to force his way to the head of the table
ultimately going to set up a lovely feud between him and Roman Reigns, which
we've kind of seen coming. There's been teases at it for like two years
now here and there. So yeah, I don't know when Roman Reigns is
coming back. I know that his return day is pretty much. I saw
a report not that long ago that it's not even like on the table right
now, Like it's pretty much like he's out indefinitely. Don't expect to see
him back until SummerSlam at the very earliest. And I still have questions about
that. Just I think that he that like with this title reign ending,
he's absolutely taking advantage of this time off, Like he's already been known to
take long periods of time off while he was the champion in one of the
biggest storylines. So do you think that now that he's kind of getting a
chance to let other people take the spotlight, that he's not going to take
advantage and you know it spend multiple, like multiple months off. I don't
think we're going to see Roman reigns anytime soon. That's just kind of how
I expect it. But Solo Sokoa does introduce the newest member of the bloodline
his quote unquote MFT, which I believe from the research I've done, stands
for my family tree. So we'll see if he continues to call him that
or if he just calls him Tomatonga because that's who he was introducing and then
demands to be taken to Kevin Owens. So we are getting closer and closer
I feel to have I can get all but official that we're getting at Kevin
Owens versus Solo so CoA at Backlash. Kevin Owens, I believe speaks fluent
French because he's French Canadian, so this is going to be like a homecoming
for him essentially, like I can already tell you who the crowd's going to
be rooting for. And with Solo so Coa's track record and the fact that
he can't buy a win, you could just all but take it to the
bank that Kevin Owens is going to kick Solo's ass whenever they get to France
at Backlash. And just historically, like I said talking about stages, Backlash
always had one of the best stages. I can remember some pretty good matches
taking place there after Crispin Wall beat Triple h at WrestleMania twenty and he won
that Triple Threat match. Their rematch happened at Backlash. Not just that,
but I believe on that same card we had Mick Foley versus Randy Orton.
When Randy Jorton went on those thumbtacks, he went for an RKO. It
was pretty much the moment that cemented Randy Orton as a future legend, just
because who he was going up against. At that point, he had already
put enough on tape to let you know that he was a legitimate superstar and
just being an evolution. It was a great moment in time like that Backlash
card, and I think Goldberg might have I don't know for sure. I
think I think Goldberg might have been out the door if that Backlash took place
after WrestleMania twenty because that was Goldberg's last match against brock Lesnar. So yeah,
I'm getting completely off the rails here, But nonetheless, go watch that
Backlash if you haven't already, because you know, it's one of the few
pay per views that was around in the Ruthless Aggression era that is finally back,
and it's been back for a few years now. But I just liked
that it's it seems like a mainstay, and it's right after WrestleMania like it
should be. Now, you know, if I can preach other things in
new existence, Let's get no way out back, Let's get out back,
Let's get no way out the pay per view back in the rotation. Let's
get Judgment Day. I mean, I know that's kind of weird now that
there's a faction called the Judgment Day, but we all know where Judgment Day
originated from. Armaged unforgiven, they do have no mercy down on an XT,
same thing with Great American Bachelor. I do appreciate the fact that NXT
is keeping some of these traditions alive, but I think WWE itself as a
main roster, we can get rid of some of these lackluster pay per views.
You know, we don't need TLC, we don't need extreme Rules,
we don't need Hell in a cell. We damn here, don't even need
elimination Chamber. Like, come on, let's let's bring some actual creativity to
some of these pay per view names. But up next, Nick Altis introduces
Triple H to come out and debut the new WWE Tag Team Championships, and
Ash Triple H was walking out, a QR code popped up and if you
actually looked into that, it's one hundred percent and Uncle Howdy video like it's
a it's a vignette and you could just all, you know, book it
that Uncle Howdy is going to be returning Now, who's he going to be
coming with? Is he going to be with braun Strowman, Eric Rowan have
a different you know, iteration of the Wyatt family. Not sure, but
I am glad to see that they are continuing with the development of this Uncle
Howdy character. I know there was a lot of juice left to be squeezed
out of that, So the fact that they are still going forward with it,
I do appreciate that. Another thing I appreciate is these WWE Tag Team
Championships and the name change. Now, let's just be honest. I called
it, called it a long time ago for the longtime listeners that know that
I pretty much did the exact same thing with the women's belts. But that's
neither here nor there. You know, We're not here to pat our stuff
on the back. It's just one of those things like, hey, we
keep receipts around here. But either way, Grayson Waller Austin theory. They
come out with their quote unquote old Tag Team Championships, the blue one,
and knowing what was going to happen like I did, Like if you kind
of got spoiled in this segment and you knew that the tag team champions or
the tag team Championships are going to be switched, which obviously that's just part
of being in the Discord server. You get live updates, and I know
that I don't leave the Discord, so I won't get these updates. I
enjoy them. You know, I don't go into SmackDown wanting to be surprised
if something happens, and you know I'm not watching yet, I will still
check it out and see kind of what's going on before I actually watch the
show. It actually allows you to know what to look for. But I
did get a chance just as they were walking out to kind of get a
last little appreciation for those those colored belts, because luckily those days are over.
We don't need brand themed belts to have a successful brand split. And
hopefully this draft is the one that really brings it back, and you just
you expect that to be the case. With Nick all this here in his
presence and Adam Pierce over on Monday night, Raw, I just have a
really good feeling about it. That's that's one way to look at it.
Now. One little early prediction, I will say, I know that Cody
Rhodes winning that belt should mean that he's on SmackDown, right, he won
it from a SmackDown superstar. It's the SmackDown Championship. But I don't think
WWE wants Cody Rhoads on SmackDown. I think they legitimately want him to be
the face of Monday Night Raw. It's the flagship show. And I think
that in this draft, we're going to see Cody Rhods get drafted to Monday
Night Raw and it's going to be one of the quote unquote big draft picks,
and it's probably gonna be the first overall pick we're drafting Cody rhads because
again, we don't know how this format is going to be for the draft.
Is it going to be a random type thing, which is the ones
that I prefer, or is it going to be you know, everyone's thrown
into one draft pool and the rosters are pretty much at a complete reset and
they're picking their rosters from scratch, which I like that as well, but
I do like some stability. I don't like to start from scratch every single
year, Like, let's get some of these wrestlers that are synonymous with their
brand more time to become more synonymous with that brand and stay over there,
so I would appreciate it if they wouldn't start from SCAR and we just got
like five or six draft picks each where they kind of switched over. But
also don't forget NXT is involved, so that's going to kind of throw a
wrench in this whole thing, which again is what I alluded to either last
week or a few weeks ago. I really liked whenever NXT was a developmental
brand, Like whenever it truly felt like a developmental brand, Like you'd see
wrestlers on NXT for months to even years, and you become familiar with that
character and then the Royal Rumble happens or Raw after Mania, and then bam,
their music hits and you have that real excitement because you're familiar with that
wrestler and they've been synonymous, and you know, it feels like a legitimate
call up, not a lateral move going from one brand to the other.
It feels like, no, this wrestler is getting called up. It's almost
like getting moved up to varsity. You know, you get your opportunity to
go perform on the main roster. And I just think that that's whenever NXT
was at its best. But I understand there's probably a lot of success right
now with Shawn Michael is running the show. It's just going to ultimately feel
like a bigger deal. But that's just kind of my two cents on it.
As Theory and Waller come out, getting back to this segment, Triple
H tries to shake their hands, but they disrespect him and refuse, which
pisses Nick Altus off, and he says that if they ever do that again,
he will make quote unquote a clown down under disappear permanently, and then
announces that the Fatal four Way Number one Contenders match starts right now, which
is exactly where we go. We get a Fatal four Way Number one Contenders
match, Street Profits, New Catch Republic, LDF, and AOP. And
in terms of the order that I would have liked to see these teams win,
probably LDF last, like I'll put I'll rank them fourth. I just
feel like they already have their heels so deep in this LWO stuff that I
don't think that they would be great champions, and I don't think they would
even be believable challengers. And if they did win, what would they do
with it? Like I feel like they would just sit on those belts because
they don't have the interest from the fans right now to actually get engaged in
what they're doing. I feel like they're kind of just ponds right now or
just I guess accessories for the feud that's going on between Santo's Escobar and the
LWO, which we'll talk about a little bit later, but just a little
bit of a sidebar. I'm kind of over this, like it seems like
it's been going on for like a year now, and I just think that
both of these groups LDF and LWO can benefit from going their own separate ways
because I feel like we've kind of ran, like ran its course at this
point. Sancho's Escobar before his match a little bit later, and we'll get
to that, but he pretty much announces again that they're not responsible for Dragonly
getting hurt. So is there somebody in the LWO that's dirty? Like do
they have a rat over there in their group that is the actual one that
injured Dragon? Lee is at Carlito because he was looked over to be a
you know, ray Masterio's partner multiple times whenever you count that, you know,
he picked Andrade to be his WrestleMania tack team partner, so I don't
know they could go that direction. If so, remember where you heard it
first. If Carlito actually is the one that took out Dragon Lee and Santo
Sescabar is gonna throw him nder the bus, because it seems like that's basically
the only direction they can go at this point. But anyways, this fatal
four way match, I'd put LDF or Legardo del Fantasma last AOP after them,
just because you know they're newly returned kind of the same thing. If
the Final Testament got those belts, I do feel like there would be more
potential than if it went to LDF because I do like AOP as a tag
team, But I just don't think that it's it's a big time necessary move
at this point to put the belts on them New Catch Republic. I just
liked them. Think they're a really talented group. Tyler Bay actually had a
really good spot in this match where he picked up one of the members of
Authors of Pain and was starting to spin him around before he got taken out.
But I think that group has a lot of potential. And then obviously
number one was the Street Profits, which they did ultimately win this match,
so I do feel like the right team won. I know that they're kind
of involved in another feud as well with the Final Testament, but I just
think that the Street Profits are able to multitask a little bit better than a
team like Legadodell Fantasma could, and the Street Profits do have that credibility from
their previous title reigns, and just I think they're a legitimate group. So
yeah, I'm glad the Street Profits ended up winning that. Moving on to
more Solo so CoA stuff, He's shown upset backstage that he can't find Kevin
Owens, and Hayman says that he doesn't want to upset, so the last
person on this earth that he wants to make mad is Solo so CoA.
But he does imply that Solo is making decisions that aren't up to him.
He's making decisions that aren't his to be made, clearly referring to Roman reigns
and that Roman reigns as a tribal chief. Solo just pretty much brushes the
soft tails him to shut up. Are you finished yet? And then the
two come out to the ring and the crowd begins chanting, we want Roman.
I did notice the camera went to a Solo's face kind of zoomed in
and you see Solo mouth Now you do like alluding to the crowd winning Roman
regins. I'm not sure if that was on purpose, like if he actually
was supposed to say that in terms of like a scripted thing to say,
or if it's just legitimately how he feels. I just wrote it down.
I thought it was noteworthy. But Solo kind of after getting the dom treatment
where the crowd is just pretty much booing him and he has to talk over
him, he mentions that last week he had to lose a brother to get
a new one, Tomatonga, and on cue, as Solo mentions his name,
we see a bloody Kevin Owen's being beaten to a polt by Tonga,
and Kao refuses to give up, even goes directly at Tomatonga, but after
Solo hits him with a Samoan spike, that was pretty much all she wrote.
The next image we see is the new version of the Bloodline standing at
the top of the ramp holding up the one with their hands covered in blood,
and then after the commercial breaknik Altice, he takes Hayman out to the
parking lot to show him the aftermath of an apparent car crash that involved Tomatonga
ramming into Kevin Owen's car, and he pretty much tells them, tells Paul
Hayman that that type of behavior will not be tolerated, and then he makes
a reference to last week and what Solo said. Nick Altas says that losing
isn't the only thing that has consequences. Because the draft is coming up.
Nick Alton seems like he has some power and he ain't afraid to use it.
I'm gonna be honest, I'm a fan of Nick. He hasn't really
rubbed me the wrong way at all. I know that some people don't like
babyface authority figures. They don't like him to be heal or babyface one way
or the other. They kind of liked him to be like a neutral presence,
similar to how Adam Pearce kind of was for the last few years.
But I will say I do like that this Nick Altis character does have a
little bit of color to him, like he has some personality. It's clear
kind of the role that he's going to play. We saw it literally from
the first time he picked up a microphone whenever he told Dominic that he's a
big fan of your dad. How's the funny little line that he said there,
And I feel like that kind of set the tone for what we can
expect with Nick Altis, and so far, so good with him being the
general manager of SmackDown. Next though, is that match that we were kind
of talking about earlier, Santo's versus Carlito. We get some minor distractions.
Obviously LWO was out there, Electro Lopez is the one that kind of distracts
car Or. Yeah, it distracts Carlito in long enough for Santos to hit
Phantom Driver and end up getting this when if this was the last match in
this feud, I wouldn't complain. But as I've kind of talked myself in
to another little layer of this whole thing with the LDF and specifically Santos repeatedly
referring to the fact that they did not take out Dragon Lead just makes me
feel like they want us to know that. And there's probably still at least
a couple months left to go in this whole little feud. But let's see
next up damage Control. They're being interviewed by Caleb Braxton from a seat or
a suite, I apologize in the crowd. So they're kind of in that
middle area, not the lower section, not the nosebleeds. They're sitting right
there in that middle section that are probably pretty expensive seats. I'm being honest.
And they pretty much just cut a promo saying that Eosky will go after
her championship whenever she's good and ready. Because Dakota Kai didn't appreciate that,
Caleb Braxton introduced, Eoski is the former champion. She's like former the only
reason why she's not champions because she is going to go after that belt whenever
she's good and ready. And then we find out that Bianca and Jade are
actually in the suite next door, so both groups are trying to watch this
one on one match between Bailey and Naomi which takes place right now, and
we get a relatively good match, like this is the main event here,
so I thought that we were going to get some good action, and that's
exactly what we did. These two haven't gone at it on a live,
you know, live television format and platform since I think they said March of
twenty twenty two February or I'm sorry. Sorry February of twenty twenty, so
literally four years ago since these two have locked arms or locked horns whatever the
phrase is in an actual ring on television. Now, they've probably gone at
it and live events obviously gotten some work together to build up some chemistry so
they could put a good show together. But still, like, if you
actually track live television events as the actual canon in WWE, then yeah,
these two haven't gone at it since twenty twenty, and it unfortunately comes to
an abrupt end after Tiffany Stratton breaks up the match and causes a disqualification by
beating the breaks off of both Bailey and Naomi, hitting the prettiest moonsaw ever
or whatever she calls it on both of them a two for one, And
like, I'm gonna be honest, I'm a fan of Tiffany Stratton. Obviously
beautiful, very talented in the ring, and I just think that, along
with Jade Cargill and other women wrestlers who have come up recently, she has
a very bright future. And if she gets picked and has to leave SmackDown,
you will hear me talk about that next week on the show. We
can just go ahead and get that out of the way right now. But
that is pretty much the show. That's Howdown came and gone. Like I
said, as you just witnessed and reviewed with me, wasn't the most noteworthy
show, but it was still decent. I you know, I've broken down
way better episodes of SmackDown, so I totally understand how some fans might not
think this was the you know, the best one, and I'm right there
with them. But next week, I mean, this was pretty much just
hey, here's a nice show. We're gonna name some number one contenders.
I do wish, though, that they would wait to do the draft till
after a pay per view, like they're doing it literally, like right before
backlash when these number one contenders are being announced. If the number one contenders
and everyone else doesn't end up getting drafted, like if they don't get end
up going to the opposite brand, then cool, it all works out.
But I feel like they do this every single year. It's like, man,
just wait a little bit, you can find yourself at a good stopping
point. Or do it right after WrestleMania. Like you say, there's no
off season in wwe have the draft Monday night after wrestling. If that's what
you want to do. It's start that two day event Monday, right after
Mania, and then the second day on SmackDown. So I don't know,
Well, I guess we'll kind of see. Although I do like that they
started off on SmackDown. I feel like all the juicy picks happen, so
obviously I can't wait to break that down next week. But before we sign
off here today, as promised, I am going to quickly rank my top
five championship belt designs currently in WWE. And again, I'm not going to
count any on an next I'm not going to use any duplicates such as the
Women's World Heavyweight Championship or the WWE Women's Championship. And it's not because I,
you know, like the men more. I just like the blackstrat better.
I know. We'll just kind of get that out of the way right
now. So anyways, let's go ahead and start off here. Number five,
the WWE Tag Team Championship, the ones that were just introduced last night.
The reason why I like these is because they're a little bit unique.
I didn't really like the circular design of the tag Team Championships that were first
introduced, Like with that bronze look that we saw, you know, got
teams like the New Day and the early version of the USOS and the Bar.
We also saw who is It? TJ. Wilson and Czarro went back
when they're there with Natalia. So there's been a lot of championships come and
go that have been called the WWE Tag Team Championships, and there was even
a pair championships back in the ruts of the Aggression era on SmackDown called the
WWE Tag Team Championships. So I liked that they brought it back. Obviously,
I think that this is the best way to go. Don't ever change
it again. And I like the look. I liked that this is,
you know, one of the rare championships that do have a unique look as
the you know, the the current belts are being displayed right now. I
just wish they would have added a little bit of color, like that's really
it. Add a little bit of blue in there, make it. You
don't have to make it a blue strap and extremely synonymous with SmackDown. But
I think that you could have added just a little bit of blue and you
know, it still would have worked out. Isn't the World Tag Team championships.
Don't they have a little bit of red in theirs. I don't know.
It just seemed like we could have gotten a little bit of color in
these. But I do like them. Call me a prisoner or a prisoner
of the moment, recency bias, or whatever, but I do like the
new design for these new tag team championships. Number four the Intercontinental, and
this is one that I really didn't like at first because of how good the
other one looked like the white strap that we saw the mishole Dean Ambrose,
many many others held that white Intercontinental Championship and that was truly my favorite.
I have it sitting over here on one of my shelves. So I wasn't
a fan of this belt when they first introduced it, but it has grown
on me. I like that it is unique, and you know, if
you actually look into it and you look at the detail and the belt,
I think that it was designed very well. Number three is the Undisputed WWE
Champion or the Undisputed ww Championship currently held by Cody Rhodes. This is another
look that I feel like is growing on me. They have to leave it
for a long time, like I've seen reports that they might try to bring
back the Winged Eagle, and they might try to, you know, just
skip Cody Roads a different belt, Like why just leave it the same,
Have this belt grow and let it grow over time, because I think that
even if people aren't a fan of it right now, they probably will be.
But for the most part, I've seen positive feedback on this belt.
I like the gold the black WWE logo. I just think it looks,
you know, better than any of the other versions of like the that WWE
logo belt that we've seen in previous years. Now. If they would have
just kept the original one, you know, the original WWE World tavaweight Championship,
I feel like cool, it would have been great. But once they
brought in the red Universal and the blue Universal, it just kind of water
down that design a little bit. And that's why I don't think I can
put it at number one or even top two, because number two is the
United States Championship, which could easily be number one. Like this is pretty
much one b here. I love this look. It does have the color.
Another one that I really wasn't a fan of because of my connection to
the nostalgic former United States Championship belt. So yes, like overtime, it's
grown on me and I do appreciate how badass it looks, but I still
just, you know, I have a connection with some of the older championships,
but I'm trying to look past that. I'm trying to appreciate how good
this belt design really is. And that's why I put it at number two
and number one or currently held by Damian Priest the World Heavyweight Championship. It's
no secret the old school World Heavyweight Championship, my favorite belt of all time,
doesn't even come close to any of the others. And the fact that
this is clearly inspired by that has almost the same shape, very similar look
just that WW logo in the middle. It is my favorite championship right now
on WWE. So that's why if Cody Rhades were to move over to Raw,
even though it's technically already on Raw, but if we're expecting him to
take that championship with him over there, I would almost say, all right,
let's have a nice trade off. I'll take the World Heavyweight Championship over
here, and you know, probably have to get judgment day two. But
even if it's just Amian priest. Yes, I would make that trade because
I want that World Heavyweight Championship on the show that I cover week in and
week out. But that does do it. For the top five, I'll
recap it really quickly. Number five, the WWE Tag Team Championships, number
four, the Intercontinental Championship, number three, the WWE Undisputed Championship, number
two, the United States Championship, number one, the World Heavyweight Championship.
So let me know your top five. Which ones did I leave out that
you feel like? Come on, man, that was one of the best
designs. How are you gonna leave that one out? Let me know what
I missed? What you would rank higher, lower, all the good stuff.
Thank you guys so much for tuning into this episode of the SmackDown Review.
Come back next week tune into The Football Function. I have a pretty
special mock draft that's going to be taking place, going to feature a lot
of different people. I'm gonna have a lot of from people picking for their
respective favorite team, and it's one of the most unique things that I've done
here since I've hosted The Football Function podcast. So thank you guys so much.
Subscribe on Patreon both to this show and to the function because it's just
the best way to listen to podcasts. But even if you don't, thank
you so much for tuning in and making this show part of your weekly routine.
Have a damn good rest of your weekend, walk passionately in the direction
of your dreams, and I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to
the WWE podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you
don't miss a show, or head to wwepodcast dot com, and for all
of these shows add free head over to Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast.
Until then, we'll see you next time.