The story isn't over cause as we all know it never is. There's a million ways they can go with it and if we agree that Asuka/Ronda/Charlotte all look strong and if most people were entertained by the Carmella cash-in then I don't see the problem.

I don't believe this will be a long title run for Carmella, but even if it is I'll wait to see how it's booked before I judge it. She's not the best character, but she is pretty well-developed (especially by Smackdown standards) and I think she's very fun and decent in-ring.

>im starting to realize that new-school booking for "smart"
>fans is incredibly boring to me. they had something that could
>have worked for months and a belt that meant something, and
>traded it in...for what?

by that same token though: as great as Charlotte, her staying on the same show with the same belt beating everyone as a face could get very stagnant and boring. Whose to say the next thing they do won't be more entertaining than that?


>1)could have just had her win matches.

and then what? lose her MITB cash-in or let it expire? this was the end of a year-long storyline and the beginning of a new one. let's see where it goes.


2) part of the problem
>is "her character". everything os so tightly wound that no
>one can get actual heat because no one attributes any actions
>to the performer. how do you build heat on someone when
>everyone is painfully aware that her "personality" is an
>entirely artificial construction?

you're not giving the audience's suspension of disbelief enough credit. people tend to boo the heels and cheer the faces even though they know it's all a work. that's not a problem unless a character is too boring or not worthy of their push. Carmella has heat cause she brags about things that aren't even that impressive (e.g. she won the briefcase and the title "by herself" which is an absolute lie)

>could have just had them win a match

against Charlotte? then you'd complain Charlotte lost. if they won a match against the other babyfaces it wouldn't give them much heat. i've been a big critic of Smackdown's booking in recent months, but this was a perfect debut for the duo and a fine cash-in for Carmella (not "perfect" just cause of the dumb ref spot).


>what charlotte did in the ring sunday keeps her strong
>regardless. going into what basically amounts to a
>developer's "debug mode" does notjong for the prestoge of the
>SD belt.

There's many ways to build or continue the prestige of a belt and a sneaky heel getting cheap wins over really good faces counts in my book.


>they already had the feud youre talking about building. it
>was ready-made for 2018 to be the year for Asuka-Flair to be
>the biggest program in the whole company, and they killed it.

I wouldn't mind them keeping this feud going now, and they very well could, but I don't see any harm in saying "That was a great Chapter 1 in the story, let's wait on Chapter 2 so that there's more anticipation."