WWE Isn’t Delivering for Fox and More SmackDown Fallout

The disconnect between the price Fox paid for WWE Friday Night SmackDown and the product it has received in exchange continued to boggle the mind this week as the mot recent broadcast failed to ignite any real excitement among fans.

The slow and steady build to Crown Jewel on Halloween continued Friday, spawning one positive: Sami Zayn's incredible work as mouthpiece for intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura.

Otherwise, the show lacked fire and continued to present Kofi Kingston in a way that would suggest he never lost the WWE Championship in a humiliating fashion as recently as October 4.

Now, dive deeper into the Fox broadcast, including Zayn's excellence and Kingston's disappointing non-reaction to his title loss, with this recap of Friday's show.

No Bang for Your Buck

Fox paid WWE $1 billion for the rights to SmackDown, and what it has received in return has been one explosive debut episode followed by the same tired, formulaic show USA was spending a hell of a lot less on as recently as September.

Yes, Friday's episode featured Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair as they prepared for their massive tag team showdown at Crown Jewel and, yes, Cain Velasquez continued his rivalry with Brock Lesnar ahead of their battle at the same event.

Still, despite the injection of star power, SmackDown lacked a sense of urgency and the hot angles one would expect from a show WWE is openly calling its new A-show.

The inconsequentialness of it all only hammers home just how disappointing the jump to Fox has been. WWE Creative should be putting together an electrifying, red-hot, can't-miss show, but it appears content to roll out the same solid-if-unspectacular product it had been for months on its old network.

That is worrisome because if management does not recognize the gravity of this move and the lofty expectations fans and network executives have for them, then complacency may have settled in far more than anyone realized.

Kofi Kingston's Emotionless Fallout

Three weeks after losing the WWE Championship, Kofi Kingston continues to display no sign of any frustration, heartbreak or disappointment that his magical run atop the brand came to such a sudden, crushing conclusion.

Friday's broadcast saw him team with Big E in a loss to former Raw tag team champions Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. Worse, he was the Superstar rolled up by The Showoff for the fall.

Kingston, the Superstar who carried the blue brand on his shoulders as champion, battling everyone from Ziggler to Randy Orton and Samoa Joe, has been relegated to tag team afterthought, with his star snuffed out by a decisive defeat that unraveled all of the momentum and credibility he had created for himself as WWE champion.

The lack of follow-up to that defeat at the hands of Brock Lesnar, coupled with the fact that Kingston has not been allowed to show any emotion or react to the loss, stands out among the major creative missteps of the past month.

So much was made of Kingston's emotional journey to the title, yet nothing has been made of his title reign's demise. It is lazy storytelling that makes the former champion look stupid and the company's attention to detail appear nonexistent.

Sami Zayn Continues to Flex His Muscles as 1 of WWE's Most Talented Talkers

When Sami Zayn became the mouthpiece for intercontinental champion Shinsuke Nakamura, it appeared as though management was doing him a disservice by taking him out of the ring to make him a glorified manager. Yet two months into the experimental pairing, it is becoming increasingly obvious the company made the right move.

Look no further than Friday's show, during which Zayn not only verbally sparred with Hulk Hogan, adding exponentially to an opening promo segment that was otherwise nondescript but also starred in a later segment that saw Nakamura confront Daniel Bryan in the squared circle.

Zayn answered hints of a return to the YES! Movement by Bryan by imploring the former WWE champion not to take a step backward but, rather, to move on by joining them. He listed the things they have in common, including being vegan, and he made a compelling case.

Most importantly, he was believable. Zayn spoke with conviction, sucking in the audience. He has the rare ability to do that. He can be inspirational or he can be insufferable. Heel or babyface, he can do it all on the microphone. And as we saw with Friday's show, he can share the ring with the biggest stars in the industry and thrive.

He is a rare talent and one it would behoove WWE to utilize to his potential before he opts to take his talent elsewhere.