There was really no way around it — this week’s episode of Friday Night SmackDown opened with a tribute to the late Hulk Hogan, who died at 71-years-old just days ago. In the time since, many have struggled with how to handle his death. He was undoubtedly one of the biggest stars in the history of the industry, making an impact in the mainstream like few before and even less after him. This man was a childhood hero across the globe. It’s hard to fathom the impact he had on so many different lives.
But who he was professionally, the character Hulk Hogan, is not who he was personally, the man Terry Bollea. What we would come to learn about the man, the racism, the lies, the phoniness, the working against the interest of others in favor of his own, the almost casual dismissal of anyone with a problem with any of it, the shamelessness, it all makes it much harder to grapple with enjoying the character. His death shouldn’t change that.
To me, the only way forward is to simply acknowledge what is true. He can be both an icon of the industry who belongs on the Mount Rushmore of pro wrestling and a person who hurt a lot of people with deplorable actions/beliefs.
WWE focused entirely on the former while completely ignoring the latter. I guess that was always going to be the case when they were paying tribute to him, but when we remember Hulk Hogan we have to remember the bad just as much as the good.
None of us are perfect. We’ll all have our day. Maybe we can all just try to be a little better on the way to it.
I couldn’t be a bigger fan of the route Logan Paul has taken with his character, at least for this program with Jelly Roll. This man is raging against an outside artist coming into the industry to live out a dream, claiming it’s a problem that outsiders would think they can come in and do such a thing.
Leaning into the lack of self awareness has been a brilliant creative choice.
Mr. Roll, meanwhile, is doing like Paul did before him, proving to take to the business in a way even some working within it have not. This guy is surprisingly good on the microphone in this setting!
He told a solid story — that he’s doing this to be a force of good and inspiration for others like him, who have struggled in their lives. Even with that, his trash talk was on point, calling Paul Charmin soft and a “Prime peddling punk ass bitch.”
Sure!
He even sang Randy Orton’s theme song well when he signaled to his friend to come down to help as an equalizer when Drew McIntyre showed up alongside Paul. Instead of talking more, the brawl kicked off and we got to see Jelly in action.
He sold for McIntyre a bit before Drew passed him off to Paul, who lit into him. When he made his comeback, he did so with jabs, a back elbow, and a shoulder tackle while commentary made like he was reinventing the wheel. It’s always so much fun when celebrities do some of the basics well and they have to sell it like they’re world beaters.
Jelly even hit a Black Hole Slam to a thundering ovation. There’s no way Paul and McIntyre stand a chance against this guy!
In all seriousness, this was a lot of fun and genuinely made me want to see what the actual match will end up looking like.
All the rest
- Andrade & Rey Fenix got a really slick pre-tape promo to talk about how they’ve defended their culture and now they want to show how they’re simply on a different level. They’re money. They sold me with this. Later, they challenged for the tag team titles in the main event and had an actually solid match with The Wyatt Sicks. Of course, that was just a set up for the entirety of the tag division to hit the scene and end the show with a huge melee, with bodies flying all around. It was actually a hell of a great time when that was the case, which makes it that much more exciting that SmackDown GM Nick Aldis booked a TLC match for SummerSlam.
- Roxanne Perez and Alexa Bliss got the usual preview of a tag team title match by having two members of each team wrestle each other in singles action. Here, they booked the heels to go over, meaning they are now one win apiece after Charlotte Flair defeated Raquel Rodriguez last week. The match was fine, but Flair and Bliss continued building chemistry in a backstage segment where Flair nearly called the two friends but settled on “partners.” I’m enjoying this.
- Jade Cargill beat up Chelsea Green and her entire crew en route to a win as they continue building her to a championship match against Tiffany Stratton. The heels attacked her again after the win, and the champion hit the ring to help fight them off. The two shared a handshake and some mutual respect while making clear the match will be all about competition and the drive to be champion. I’m not sold on this one bit but your mileage may vary.
- Cody Rhodes got some time on the microphone to cut a promo, making sure to thank Hulk Hogan despite his complicated legacy. Then he spoke on the upcoming Street Fight with John Cena at SummerSlam, promising violence. “Sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t look like the right thing.” A funny thing to say after paying tribute to Hulk. Rhodes said he doesn’t want to fight the current version of Cena but rather he wants the “real” Cena. They’ll beat respect out of each other. Mostly, though, he needs to know that it all meant something and we’ll see Cena next week to answer that. This was the weakest I’ve seen Cody in some time, but they can’t all be winners.
- The Miz made his return in Cleveland, walked right up on Jacob Fatu, told him they were in a match together, and then slapped him in the face. Fatu smiled at this and decided to go get after it with him. Miz did his best, and actually got quite a bit of offense in, but he didn’t have enough against one of the brightest stars on the roster. The MFTs attacked after, and Jimmy Uso once again ran in to make the save. This time, though, the bad guys had the numbers and stood tall with them. Simple build, worked well.
- Giulia has official representation now in Kiana James. Giving her a manager makes sense while she continues learning the language. James can talk for her — she’s damn good at that anyway — while Giulia can, as the kids would say, aura farm. She’ll be up against Zelina Vega next week.
A decent show.
Grade: B-
Your turn.
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