WWE: Will the Teddy Long & Aksana Storyline Ever Go Anywhere?

Here's an interesting fact: The current Teddy Long/Aksana storyline on Smackdown started six months ago.

That's right. For the past six months we've had an endless cycle of cheesy, innuendo-filled backstage segments which see former NXT diva Aksana flirt outrageously with the aging general manager and attempt to seduce him for some unknown purpose.

Needless to say, they're both taking things very, very slowly, and their interaction hasn't gone beyond flirting (come on, Teddy: it's been several months, ask her out on a date or something, at the very least).   

Where is it supposed to be going? No one knows. We even have to wonder if WWE bookers have any clue where this story is headed too.

It's also difficult to see what either Teddy or Aksana are getting out of it.

By spending all of his time heavily lusting after a woman half his age, apparent babyface Long comes off as slightly creepy and completely gullible for believing the gorgeous Aksana is genuinely interested in him and has no ulterior motive. 

The angle has also served to make Long look like an terrible GM. Indeed, he spends so much time on Smackdown wrapped up in the attentions of young diva instead of doing his job, we're strongly inclined to believe heel John Laurinaitis when he claims that Long is too incompetent and unfocused to run WWE's blue brand. 

And whether it's due to his habit of coming out and making tag team matches all the time or making people go one-on-one with Randy Orton, many have grown tired of Long's stale act (give or take some sabbaticals here and there, he's been Smackdown GM since 2004), and this current angle certainly isn't helping.

While Aksana is garnering more airtime than your average diva with this storyline, she hasn't been helped much by it either.

She has shown herself to be an entertaining, funny and charismatic performer in the past (check out her hilarious angle with Goldust on season three of NXT) and, thanks to her strong Lithuanian accent and Gothic clothing style stands out from the rest of the divas. However, being stuck in such an aimless storyline and doing the exact same backstage segment every week is doing her no favours whatsoever.

Of course, as tired as the angle has gotten, there are some strong indications that the whole thing may be getting wrapped up soon, mainly in Long's current power struggle with Raw general manager John Laurinaitis. It seems that, not content to rule over the red brand, he wants to take over Smackdown as well.

Per reports, a multi-man tag team match at WrestleMania 28 is being planned, with Laurinaitis and Long both captaining their respective teams. Whichever team wins will gain control of both brands.  

If WWE stick with the plan, it is presumablyTeddy who will lose and be sent packing.

You see, Long is a tired character who really does needs a break from TV and, besides, WWE have invested too much in Laurinaitis as a on-screen authority figure (including giving him a high-profile feud with current WWE Champion CM Punk) to get rid of him right now. 

In short, things don't look too good for Teddy right now.

It is also possible, maybe even likely, that Aksana will turn at WrestleMania and cost her man his GM role. Maybe it could be revealed that Laurinaitis sent Aksana to Smackdown specifically for the purposes of seducing and then sabotaging Teddy. It would be a satisfactory ending for what has, thus far, been a deeply unsatisfactory storyline.

Summarily, as we head into WrestleMania, this whole Aksana/Long storyline should (hopefully) be wrapped up soon as the Long/Laurinaitis power feud culminates. 

And if it's not? Eh, well this angle is just going to go on for the rest of time, I suppose. In which case we'd better get used to the blue lighting and Teddy's lame attempts at flirting.