₦airaland Forum

ValeeLove:
competition is a thing, but look at the optics. He's been in the company for how long, and not even a midcard title in his name. Even Theory has that. With the way he was hyped.

Mr Iguana saw his chance against Lola Vice and took it. Bro won the match without even pinning anybody. 😝

Oscar worthy performance by Mr. Iguana! pic.twitter.com/Wk6h9CwFke

— DirtyDomDom (@DirtyDomDom) March 26, 2026

pu7pl3:
There are always going to be people sacrificed for other people to get more screen time, it's just how the business is. Atleast now he is getting some time to show himself again.

samistry:
He got a tag title reign with Ciampa. You know WWE values looks and promos over ring ability. It's why guys like Fraxiom, MCMG, Los Garzas are struggling.
Melo and guys like Ilja are just getting their break now because the smackdown midcard title scene cleared up a bit.

Logan Paul held the United States title for almost a year in 2023. It then went to LA Knight who had a boring reign and feud with Nakamura before being locked in the Samoan feud between Jacob and Solo.
Where Johnny wan see chance?

samistry:
Heyman got what he deserved.

ValeeLove:
if e really good e go see chance. Either that or he's not being used well.

CoolUsername:
LA Knight fell on his fookin' arse again

ValeeLove:
Def. But those people sacrificed are the undercards and it seems that's where Gargano falls into.

ValeeLove:
if e really good e go see chance. Either that or he's not being used well.

CoolUsername:
Gargano is being used perfectly

pu7pl3:
Yea currently he is there in the lower card aka catering but he is not overhyped, he isn't even hyped at all.

samistry:
The Andrade wey una dey praise now for AEW which chance e been see for SmackDown?
If you're less than 6ft tall, depend on ring work rather than promo or character you're cooked in the fed.
All them Melo, ilja suppose dey thank Sami Zayn for using the US open title challenge as medium to get over with their wrestling skills.

The best tag teams on Smackdown took a backseat to MFT vs Ojuju boys for almost 6 months.

ValeeLove:
back in his NXT days he was really hyped. He, Ciampa, Cole, Keith and some others.

ValeeLove:
I thought we've gone through this phase and are over it. Bret, Michaels, Guerrero, Rey, Punk, Bryan, Styles - all small guys that succeeded in WWE. Maybe we should stop giving them too much excuses.

pu7pl3:
And it was worth it. He is a chief propagator of the kind of wrasslin you love

ValeeLove:
getting squashed by Oba?

samistry:
He and Cole were catching flack over the endless kickouts and nearfalls in their matches on NXT. The kind of stuff that AEW fans and Meltzer love.

Endless kickouts and super kick fest

Seth Rollins really CRASHED OUT at a fast food spot after an indie show 😭

They forgot half his order, didn’t refund him then just CLOSED on him

“Give me my food or I’m going in there.”

“Call the cops you robbed me”

(WWE Storytime)

pic.twitter.com/nEnpZJtRwJ

— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) March 26, 2026

ValeeLove:
back in his NXT days he was really hyped. He, Ciampa, Cole, Keith and some others.

Thekla mocking Toni Storm to Mina Shirakawa

😂#AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/Y6JqipJhK6

— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) March 26, 2026

samistry:
CoolUsername no send Johnny Wrestling just as you no send Jade.

samistry:
I've given you the history of folks top of smackdown midcard scene from 2023 till now. Non of them were just good wrestlers without character or promo work.

There's also the fact in we're in the era of lengthy championship reigns.
Attitude and ruthless aggression was revolving door of champions. Sometimes, a reign might last only a week.
Santino was a two time IC champ in that era.

Bret and HBK broke the mould being good smaller wrestlers when Vince temporary shifted from his bodybuilder fixation during the steroid trial allegations. Hulkster and Macho had left for WCW.
Who were their contemporaries? Taker hadn't polished his ring work then. Yokozuna, Sid, Lex Luger, Diesel, Razor were serviceable but had looks carrying them. Stone Cold relied more on promo and character work especially after his neck accident.
HBK was the fanciful showman while Bret let his ring work speak for him. They were two good small guys in an era of giants.
Nowadays, we have many skillful small guys competing against one another.

Guerrero also had the Latino lie, steal and cheat thing going for him. Something Dominik inherited to get over with the crowd.

Punk was the indy guy archetype who made way for other similar guys in the modern era. No one was wrestling a similar style(maybe Jeff), doing suicide dives in WWE at that time.
Heyman also batted for him in the office.
Despite having been multiple champion on Smackdown. He had to suffer through the straight edge society /New Nexus storyline before really given the ball after the pipebomb promo (promo work was a factor).

Bryan never really broke ground until his YES/No catchphrases and story with Kane and AJ Lee took off.

Styles was a made guy coming from NJPW in 2016. Perfect timing as that was the year WWE became more indycentric in wrestling style. Folks like Owens, Balor, Rollings were already mixing it up on Raw.

Rey was allowed to shine because there was no similar guy on the roster allowed to do what he could do. Now you get Dragon Lee, Penta and other masked guys. Fenix is floundering hard because nothing sets him apart from other masked guys.

pu7pl3:
And it was worth it. He is a chief propagator of the kind of wrasslin you love

samistry:
Bianca seems to have recovered.

ValeeLove:
i don't know about that. He's more sport-like, but can he act - that's another question.

.@WWERomanReigns has some words for @CMPunk ahead of their @WrestleMania match 👀 #FallonTonight #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/LwIdrffRTD

— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) March 27, 2026

pu7pl3:
Well he is acting depressed really well right now isn't he?

.@WWERomanReigns has some words for @CMPunk ahead of their @WrestleMania match 👀 #FallonTonight #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/LwIdrffRTD

— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) March 27, 2026