4 Mistakes WWE made on SmackDown before Clash in Italy

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Danhausen brought his backstage experiments across the ocean to Italy. Axiom got a big victory in his home country. WWE made the next four mistakes on SmackDown before Clash in Italy.

#4. What’s the deal with Blake Monroe?

WWE ran vignettes for Blake Monroe following WrestleMania 42. She didn’t appear live until doing so backstage with Chelsea Green last week. It lasted less than 30 seconds, so it was easy to miss.

Why have her appear live last week, only to have a pre-taped vignette again this week? It essentially proves that last week’s offering was either last-minute, rushed, unimportant, or all of the above.

The latest segment ended saying Monroe was “coming soon.” Did they consider last week’s live appearance as a blip and not a debut? It’s just a confusing way to introduce a star from NXT.

#3. Sacrificing Alexa Bliss for yet another WWE star

As if using Bliss to get Charlotte Flair over wasn’t bad enough, WWE has continued to sacrifice her in Rhea Ripley’s feud with Jade Cargill. Bliss would get a win here and there.

Whenever it came to tag team action with the Queen, she’d eat the pin in any loss. Cargill surprisingly pinned Ripley to win the six-woman tag team contest at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

On SmackDown, however, Bliss faced and predictably lost to Cargill. It’s another way officials have wasted the five-time champion since her return last year. The live crowd was extremely vocal in their support for Bliss, even more so than Flair.

#2. Was a Double Countout really necessary?

Instead of booking one to beat the other, like Trick Williams did last week over Carmelo Hayes, bookers took the cowardly way out by having Hayes vs. Ricky Saints end in a double countout.

It’s clearly to prolong the feud and either man getting a shot at the United States Championship. We’ve gone from weekly defenses and great matches around the title to nonsensical rambling promos and non-finishes.

Saints and Hayes are capable of so much more, but with how WWE structures matches on SmackDown, a long commercial break kills any momentum that can be built.

The double countout would be fine if a title shot were on the line because it would probably lead to a triple threat. On a show of rather average action, this type of finish is a waste of time.

#1. WWE goes with another flat ending before a big PLE

Roman Reigns and CM Punk had a cordial verbal exchange as their final showdown before WrestleMania 42. Jacob Fatu and Reigns did the same on the go-home RAW for Clash in Italy earlier this week.

Instead of brawling and ending RAW with a scene of chaos, the last image was them touching heads. They touched heads after nearly three weeks of vicious assaults.

Cody Rhodes and Gunther couldn’t be outdone, so they, too, simply had a tense verbal exchange as the last image ahead of their fight at Clash in Italy. After weeks of chokes and blindside attacks, they just talked loudly in each other’s faces.

The image of a champion lying lifeless on the mat, or officials pulling two hated rivals apart, is a much more powerful scene to close a go-home show. SmackDown’s ending felt flat compared to the heated action leading up to the final show.