Smackdown Reaction: Is Johnny Wrestling Done Resting?

0:00This is Robin Lumbergan, you're listening to the Busted Open After Dark podcast. On tonight's show, I get into the Awakening of Johnny Gargano on SmackDown. This is the Busted Open podcast. I think the first thing we have to discuss is the Awakening of Johnny Gargano. The Awakening of Johnny Wrestling. Homeboy has been like dead for how long? He's been comatose? I don't know, I- Somebody's gonna have to go back and check the log for me. I haven't been keeping tabs. I just know every week I see bro planking with his eyes open on SmackDown and saying nothing. Just out of it and you wonder, okay, what's the plan for Johnny Gargano here? Johnny Wrestling is Johnny, you know, whatever he is. Johnny lifeless. Johnny, resting. I guess it's what you would call him. Johnny Wrestling became Johnny Wrestling. For quite a while and it was part of this extended bit, obviously, with Sammy Zane.

1:05In this case, it was CM Punk who promised the title shot. That was enough to wake him up. Here's Johnny. Here's Johnny as soon as CM Punk said those words and had those words to say. Good finish where you got the- Oh, so I got the note from Ben. Johnny Wrestling became Johnny Wrestling in February. So March, April, May, June, July, August, September, Johnny Wrestling for like six, seven months, bro. He's been Johnny Wrestling. Now he's Johnny Wrestling. He went from Johnny Wrestling to Johnny Wrestling real quick. Just like he went from Johnny Wrestling to Johnny Wrestling. I can do this bit the whole show. But I'll spare you for now. Any Johnny Wrestling becomes Johnny Wrestling has the match with CM Punk at the end of the show. And is there anything better than a near fall?

2:09Then the shoulder up right before the hand hits three. We know it's over done. Sometimes you get the matches where it happens so often at the end. And it's the best drama. Obviously you can get- It's like the thing in an action movie or whatever where the bad guys got the- The city will explode in ten minutes. And you know you've got the countdown clock. It's like, drama. Here it comes. You know, drama. So it's like, one, two, oh! And you got that moment when Sami Zayn comes out and takes out CM Punk in the midst of the match. Johnny Wrestling gets his arm across CM Punk. And I knew CM Punk was going to kick out. I knew it. I knew it. But you know like you have that morsel, that smidgen, that small piece of your brain that goes, what if what if Johnny Gargiano was the WMF?

3:12Like what if Johnny Wrestling becomes Johnny Champion in wrestling like that? What if it happens? Could it happen? One, two CM Punk just gets his shoulder off the mat, winds up hitting appropriately enough and go to sleep on Johnny Wrestling and gets the victory. But you know this is also more of an extension through the plot device, through the use of Johnny Gargiano. The Sami Zayn characterization and the Sami Zayn is being irritant that he's become to show many of the other participants because that's how the show started and that's how the show ended. Gunther wants to part of Sami Zayn. CM Punk wants to part of Sami Zayn. Kevin Owens wants to part of Sami Zayn, which tells you that Sami Zayn is doing a pretty good job. Right? Like when everybody has a problem with you in pro wrestling, you're doing a pretty good job.

4:13Otherwise, there'd be no heat, there'd be no cheering, there'd be no show. And right now Sami Zayn has made himself into the linchpin in many ways of SmackDown. And specifically this entire episode, kind of even without his direct involvement, he was barely there. He shows up at the end, obviously, to help Johnny and to get beat down a little bit. But just the specter of him, the tease of his involvement, if you will, can't complain about anything from Sami Zayn. And the thing about him is it also makes sense. Right? Like his descent makes a lot of sense. And that's usually, what do they always say about a bad guy in a movie? Right? Like, or a hero in wrestling. If their motivation matters, you feel them more.

5:14Right? Like if their reason for being, if their purpose, if their mission has, you know, sound logic behind it, or you can at least see their perspective, it matters more. And with Sami Zayn, you can certainly see his perspective. He's been there, he's done that. He's done everything to get himself into a place. And he keeps feeling like others are elevated unjustly. Others get more chances than him. He is being screwed. And he feels he's in the right. But everybody else feels like he's in the wrong at the same time. And I thought that was rather effective. But for, you know, a random, for the most parts of random SmackDown, I like this was not something that has been promoted and build for months. This is not something that we were leading up to. Obviously, you've got Sunday Night's main event coming up that has some big matches on it. And really, you know, this is a quirky time in the WWE calendar.

6:16Because generally, we've gotten so used to PLE, PLE, PLE on like a regular cadence. And this is the biggest break. I can't remember a break like this where they've had this much time. You know, what was summer slam a month ago? Right? Like we're talking about a month ago on the dot. So we'd be coming up. They sort of turned Sunday Night's main event into a de facto PLE, Braun Breaker and Oba Femi. That's a big match. Obviously Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. That's a big match. We can get into some of that. But I thought that the use of Sami Zayn's story to turn this SmackDown into something with some meat on it from a long term build worked, especially because Johnny Wrestling became Johnny Wrestling again. Of course, that wasn't the only thing that happened on the show. The Women's Division, I think, continues to have a good heartbeat on SmackDown.

7:17You've got Chelsea Green and her title. And she was out there with the doctor and a little bit of a curveball, I think, because when Chelsea Green came out and she, you know, Nick Aldous was out there with the doctor as a witness. You got the feeling perhaps that there might be a, you got to relinquish this title, kind of deal going on. And that was not the case. Obviously, she did not have to relinquish the title. Instead, the doctor says, you have to wear this face mask at all times because you've got a broken orbital bone, but it is healing. And as long as you wear the face mask, you are cleared to compete, which was the green light for Nia Jax and Lash Legend to show up. And we've got a Nia Jax and Chelsea Green showdown looming. They have Mexico City on their mind. So that was an effective, you know, build there.

8:19I think we've got a looming Tiffany Shratton heel turn perhaps coming. And obviously a big title defense for Chelsea Green. It feels a little early for her to lose this title. So I don't expect that to happen, especially as effective as she has been. She's become, you know, just like I was saying, with Sammy Zayn, Chelsea Green, one of the Lynch pins of the program. So I expect her to retain that title. What I liked the integration of all of the participants there. Same thing happened in the women's match earlier in the show with the tag match that took place Charlotte Flair and company Charlotte Flair with Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley. They get the victory, but then they're attacked by Jade Cargill, Mishin and B Fab. This Jade Cargill and Charlotte Flair feud has been going on for quite a while. Now you've got multiple parties, multiple participants involved in that feud as well.

9:23And that will be paid off at Sunday night's main event. Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, they have a showdown, a pre-tabed segment face-to-face. Corey Graves is doing the interview. I really think Cody Rhodes has been crushing it lately on the mic. I've been really impressed. In some ways, I think this arc for Cody Rhodes is interesting because we've got him without that championship. We became used to him being QB1, the face of the company, and all of those things, carrying that title. He had finished his story. But now where exactly does he go? He's got this revenge to get on Randy Orton. But once that match is done, what's the next arc for Cody Rhodes? We know he sort of teased the heel turn or the hamin turn.

10:23When he mentioned that's not a prediction, but that's a spoiler. So that was an interesting line for Cody Rhodes to drop. He got everybody hook line and sinker with that line when he uttered it. Everybody knows it's a Paul Heyman quote. So you think Cody Rhodes be a Paul Heyman guy? First, he's got to get through Randy Orton. One of the promos that stood out to me in the recent weeks was when he said, you're the legend killer, but what happens when it's your turn to be killed? That's the time that Cody Rhodes is on. But beyond that, you had Shinsuke Nakamura and his new partner, Kiyoki. They look great. He looked great in his WWE debut that they've got to show down with the MFTs. Coming up as well, Haku has added some gravity, gravitas to the MFTs.

11:27But that was basically spackdown for you tonight with the standout moment, I think, being Johnny Gargano standing up, getting back up, Johnny wrestling back into the mix on Smackdown. And you wonder when they would pay that off. And I never thought it would be tonight. I wasn't like, just sitting there thinking, you know what? I'm going to see him wake up tonight. But that's exactly what we got thanks to CM Punk, which led to a pretty good match at the end of the show, a pretty good finish. And this song and dance with Sami Zayn, where everybody's involved with him. You know, you could get a, it looks like perhaps we're building to a four-way match here with Punk, Goonther, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. That would be the logical place to go, is all for them in the ring at the same time, since everybody wants a piece of Sami. And Sami, eventually is going to have to want that title back. Right, I mean, I mean, you want to back now, he only had it for nine days.

12:30But it feels like he's got nine guys wanting to clear, you know, a path toward him. And we'll see where that goes, but that's what I expect is for that to be a fatal four-way at some point in time, considering all of the different participants and all of the different players that are involved. What did you think of Smackdown? 877-344-489-3, 877-344-489-3, did you like seeing Johnny back up? How do you, you know, factor in everybody wanting to get at Sami Zayn, all of the different participants who have an issue with Sami at this moment. The women's division, like I said, I think it's very strong, a lot of depth on the Smackdown roster there. So that's a nice thing to see it, you know, to have that many live participants. And Chelsea Green, give Chelsea Green a lot of credit, right? Like she has become a prime time

13:32player. It doesn't feel like Chelsea Green is like a, you know, participant patient trophy champion. And I know originally that was supposed to be an interim championship. That was supposed to be, okay, Chelsea Green has it while Rio Ripley recovers before we found out that Rio Ripley was going to have surgery. But it wound up in a roundabout way becoming a coronation for everything that Chelsea Green has built up into this point. And it would have been a real shame if an injury, if the face injury had actually cut that title run short. But it appears fortunately she will be able to defend it as long as she wears that mask, which Nia Jax took off and her last legend were mocking Chelsea a little bit, which perhaps is foreshadowing her losing the mask in that match in Mexico City. Coming up next, I give my predictions for Sunday nights made event.

14:33The fastest growing pro wrestling show on the planet. Let's start with Charlotte Flair Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley vs Jade Cargo Mission and B Fab. You know, this Charlotte Flair Jade Cargo program. And that's what I sort of see this as, obviously, an extension of that. They've got their factions. But it has been building burgeoning, simmering for quite a while. And I think it's been a good thing for Jade Cargo, specifically. Obviously Charlotte Flair has nothing else left to accomplish in her career. She's already arguably, you know, the greatest who has done it certainly on the short list. And her and Alexa Bliss have had this partnership going on that's been fun. Tatum Paxley has introduced via that. But this is more in my mind about where does Jade Cargo

15:35go from here? You know, she's, she's had the title. She's gotten some work put in. But she's in this bit of a crossroads. I think the faction has helped her having Mission and B Fab by her side. But that's what I'm most interested in in this match is how they continue to build Jade Cargo into what is next for her in the next chapter of her career. Then you've got Baron Corbin versus Little Yachty. I've been a pretty harsh critic of some of the celebrity involvement in some of the the matches and programs in the past. And I show speed. It's done a nice job and Jolly Roll was obviously like committed. I commend him for that. But I felt there was a little bit too much of that and then Pat McAfee and that whole ordeal. But I like the Little Yachty involvement here. One because we're not selling this as, you know, the main event of WrestleMania. It is, it is a match

16:37on the Sunday night main event card. That's number one. And two, to me, the, the, the North Star is always does it makes sense. And in this case, it makes sense. Little Yachty has been managing trick Williams for a minute now. He was part of a gingerbread man bit on Smackdown, you know, months ago. Like, you know, this guy's been around for quite a while in the corner of trick Williams. And there's no sensible reason for Baron Corbin to give trick Williams another title shot. Right? There's just no sensible reason. So this makes sense because it is being introduced, you know, as a device to possibly give trick Williams another shot. What is Little Yachty after survive five minutes with Baron Corbin? Is that the, the stipulation? Exactly. Do I have it right? So there, there's an element to it that, you know, let you know already that Little Yachty is going to be trying to escape punishment from Baron Corbin. So that's already, you're already

17:38committed to that. And it makes some sense. So I, I don't have a problem with the involvement of a little Yachty, I can get on the boat in this case with his involvement. Uh, Braun Breaker and Oba Femi, Slobbernacher, right? I mean, that's, and talk about something that, that's helped somebody. I feel like this is help Braun Breaker a ton. It's gotten Braun Breaker back to the place where he was when he really first came up to the main roster, where he was perhaps when the vision first formed before the, the vision all fell apart. And I love the, you know, psychological warfare in a sense that's going on where Braun Breaker is battling some insecurities, questioning himself a little bit like, wait, he's the guy now? He's, he's, I thought I was, I thought I was next. I thought I was, you know, on the, the, the, the path to being the next great superstar. And then Oba Femi shows up and snatch my chain. Like you can, you can feel that from Braun Breaker. So I,

18:43I really like that. What, win or lose, I feel like it's done a lot to bring Braun Breaker back to where he needs to be. Ultimately, I just don't think Oba Femi, considering the build he's had, can afford to lose to anybody. But I, I am intrigued to see how that match goes. But I would predict so far, I'm going to go with Jade and company. I'm going to go with Little Yachty, escaping enough to get trick Williams a match. And I'm going to go with Oba Femi. Then you've got Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton. And the thing about Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton is they're getting a chance to do it, you know, WrestleMania maybe didn't go the way everybody had hoped it would go. So they're getting to run it back again here. But I'm going to go with, with Cody Rhodes. Again, I, I mentioned, I'm not that street fighter should play into this. But I feel like he's been on a heater on the mic. He's been doing really well in, in all of his segments. And I don't know exactly

19:46what it would do for, for Randy. That, that, that's the, the part of it that I don't have quite answered. But I'm going to say that Cody Rhodes gets the victory. Catch the full three hours of busted open every day of the week at 9am Eastern on WWE Radio on Sirius XM Channel 156.