Did SmackDown Get Ricky Saints Right? Plus New Day Fallout...

WWE SmackDown gave us a LOT to talk about.

In this Wrestle Chop hot take video, I break down Ricky Saints’ big SmackDown moment and answer the question everyone’s asking — HIT OR MISS? I’m also diving into what stood out with Jacob Fatu, thoughts on Royce Keys, and what the New Day release means for WWE moving forward.

Was Ricky Saints presented like a star?
Is Jacob Fatu becoming WWE’s next breakout force?
What does Royce Keys bring to the roster?
And did WWE make the right call with New Day?

Drop your thoughts in the comments — I want to know where you stand.

Topics covered:

• Ricky Saints WWE debut reaction
• WWE SmackDown review
• Jacob Fatu analysis
• Royce Keys discussion
• New Day WWE release reaction
• WWE hot takes & wrestling opinions
• WWE news and rumors

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The New Day is no longer with WWE. I covered more of it yesterday, and we're gonna get to hot takes, but like I just want to address two things. One, I got a lot of people, mostly on TikTok, saying, Yeah, the New Day weren't doing anything anyways. Them not being a part of any storylines is literally not their fault. And the second thing is I keep hearing people say, Oh, well, they had a mutual agreement to part ways. And in my mind, that I think that's a very misleading statement. I guess technically on some level it is truthful, but correct me if I'm wrong, but we had the new day with a three-year contract. Let's just pretend they were guaranteed a hundred dollars every year, and they were told you have to show up whenever we tell you to show up to work, and you can only wrestle for us, and you'll get a hundred dollars every year for the next three years. They agreed on it. But then in year two, TKO says, actually, we want to only give you fifty dollars a year, and you have to show up for work whenever we tell you, and you can't wrestle for anybody else. So if I'm the new day, I'd be like, wait a second, we already agreed on something, we're happy with that agreement, and now you want to pay us less for this for basically the same stuff. And then TKO says, Yes, but if you don't sign, we'll release you. And and New Day was like, then release us. And then TKO's like, okay, we'll release you, but this is a mutual agreement now because you said it. It's like, no, it wasn't. It like TKO backed out on the original deal. All right, now let's get to some hot takes after I tell you about the belt giveaway. At 30,000 subscribers, I'm gonna give away this belt right here. All you gotta do is comment below and subscribe to the channel. I'm trying to quit my day job, people. Help me out. Also, let me know in the comments below if you want me to start covering AEW content. I did try in the past, but it didn't seem like people wanted it. So let me know if that has changed. Who knows? Maybe I'll do Wednesday night live streams, but only Wednesday. All right, people. But if you want to win, it's not a toy, it's a replica. So comment and subscribe. All right, hot takes. Nick Hill PK says, I don't know how I feel about Ricky coming up and losing. Yeah, I don't think it was a good move, to be honest with you, because let's just base it off history. There's no shame in losing to the champion. But I will say this Carmelo Hayes on his first night, he lost to Cody Rhodes, and there wasn't a program established after that. It was just like, okay, and it took about two years for Carmelo Hayes to recover and still yet to get a WrestleMania match. Now we look at someone like Trick Williams, or even Ethan Page. We got Trick Williams, though, he goes into a program instantly with somebody in the mid-card, a top mid-card guy, right? And that has really established Trick Williams super quick the roster. And you go to Raw, you look at Ethan Page, who is pretty much, who is pretty much in the mid-card right now and involved in that. And he hasn't made a huge as big a splash as Trick Williams, but Ethan Page seems to have really just fit like a glove and and is slowly building credibility as a main roster talent. And there's Oba Femi, but Oba Femi is an anomaly. Most people shouldn't go up against Brock Lesnar like right away, but like so. Let's just not even think about Oba Femi, with the exception of the fact that you know what? Maybe, maybe it's not a bad thing to push someone really hard, right? Really hard the moment they get on the main roster, because that's what they did with Oba. Heck, even JC Jane, she went straight up against the top champion, women's champion, and well, she didn't really lose. Yeah, she lost by DQ, but she did not get pinned, and she's still actively, actively involved in that feud now or a program with Rhea Ripley. So it's like we got evidence that suggests that even losing to the top champion isn't the best idea when introducing someone to the uh the the main WWE audience. So I'm gonna say, while I don't feel that Ricky Saints is buried, I definitely don't think that this was the greatest way to be like, hey, look at the future right here as he loses. Ear Dale Alex says, I'm telling you, the Usos are turning on Roman. I see, ooh, ooh, Usos are turning on Roman. I didn't think that. I didn't think that. But you know what? I know Roman gave the order that nobody can touch Jacob, but at the end of the day, Jacob walked through the Usos and the Usos just didn't do nothing. And maybe that's a hint that the Usos have kind of sort of aligned with Jacob, or at the very least, they're gonna let they're gonna let Roman take a beat down. I don't think so, but that is a very interesting prospect. You know, because it would be easy for the Usos just to say, yeah, we didn't like how you treated us before, and we're not going back to that. I love AEW wrestling, and I truly hate the Sammy and Trick feud now because of that dang gingerbread man's death. The dad WWE is just too stupid, stupid, stupid. And this segment was worse than Bobby Lashley Sisters. I remember the Bobby Lashley sister segment. That's what Sammy's ain't too. That is one of the all-time worst, in my opinion. God, that was so bad. Yeah, I I don't are you saying the segment's bad because they killed the gingerbread man, or are you saying it's because of the whole angle with the ginger? I I I personally I'm loving the gingerbread angle. Hated the Bobby Lashley sister angle, but loving gingerbread man, and that's alright, you know, different different strokes for different folks. It's okay to absolutely hate the gingerbread man storyline, but I don't. I absolutely love it. Carmichael says, Boer Tessatori ruins every good moment. Gunther attacking Cody is awesome, but the Boar Tess casually says, Gunther has arrived, and I tune out. So, Carmichael, I'm not gonna lie, Joe Tessatori, I have, I have slowly kind of turned on him as well. I don't think he's like bad or anything, but it's just he seems like, I don't know, he's like, he's like today's WWE product. A little too, a little too clean, a little too sanitized. I wanna get uh I want I like my WWE a little dirty. TTJC says Trick doesn't even care if what he says is PG anymore. Yeah, no, he doesn't. Definitely not PG, but but he's not just dropping like swear words and stuff like Pat McAfee did just to be all relevant and hip and stuff like that, you know, shock the audience. No, it's just like so natural for Trick that it comes across just hilarious. Hanko says, Cody just getting jumped by everyone. Join a faction or something, it's getting sad. And I, yeah, you know, I think that's how he starts all his storylines, or maybe it's all Gunther, how Gunther starts storylines. He just starts attacking people. That's what he did to Seth Rollins, and now that's what he's doing to Cody Rhodes. Keno says, RIP New Day, Chop, please make a tribute video. I I really want to. I really, really want to, but I am just slammed at work right now. We have our we have our like an our audit season. I have like nine days left. So I'm at I'm at I'm at my day job like almost all day long. Top of that, backlash is happening, and next week my assistant is like going on vacation. So like gosh, I really want to. Like, I feel bad. If if I don't get a new day tribute up, it's not for lack of trying. Arrow Noir says the AI era is in full effect. The gingerbread storyline reeks of it. Either that or Vince is a ghost, is ghostwriting. Yeah, you know, again, I love it, but it's okay to hate it. Jim Bo Sly says Sammy will get himself over as a heel so effectively, he's going to get genuine cheers when he mentions his die hard fans. I'm gonna be honest with you, I have now flipped back to a Sammy Zayn fan. Fickle, fickle, fickle, right? No, it's not I'm not being fickle. I'm saying that Sammy is so much more interesting as a heel. I love him as a heel. Give me a break beating up the gingerbread man, that's hilarious stuff. Him just him just saying, I don't care what anybody says, as long as my three rider dies out there, him just catering to three people, his rider dies, like he's delusional right now, and it's it's hilarious. But when he's just like, I'm gonna win the championship, and that's and he just tries to like hype up the crowd about how he's just this underdog, that's not interesting. I am a Smy Zayn fan again, but underdog Sammy who steals Chad Gable's Intercontinental Championship against Gunther, Sammy Zayn who beats up the entire MFTs. Yeah, don't like that one. But yeah, this Sammy though, this Sammy I like. Chris Happy says, just unify both mid-card titles, Intercontinental and US. WWE truly has the best women's roster in terms of athletes, but can't create a division. Yeah, you know, the the women's division is insane, insane, and yet, and yet, I honestly, like, if it wasn't for Becky Lynch being like, I'll take the Intercontinental Championship, they would have 100% just swept that under the rug. Becky is actively, actively trying to make that into something. And no wonder she's the best in the world, right, people? And that's not just me saying it, that's sports illustrated. So hopefully Tiffany follows suit, but I understand what you're saying. It's like, why did we create these titles if we're not gonna have actual storylines built around them? Sean Elvarado says, I really hope Danhausen can get Oba as his partner. Yeah, so Danhausen, I love the Danhausen segment. I really do. I think I think a lot of people aren't talking about it as much because the gingerbread man really just was so polarizing. Plus, then we also had the WWE releases, but I think I think the Ms. Danhausen and Kit Wilson program is amazing. That said, I'll do a video later in the week on who I think the uh the mystery opponents can be. Oba Femi, though, I could definitely see as a prime suspect. Tracy Wood says Gingerbread man is going to be alive at the funeral. Ooh, ooh, yeah, like you know, have an open casket, the gingerbread man's there, and then he pops up and it's Sami Zayn. Hmm, I could see it. Kid Wilkes says, Tiffany Stratton says, Who doesn't love an open challenge? Yeah, it's like I caught that too. I caught that too. We don't of the Chop Nation because it's it's been done to death. Oh my gosh, open challenge, open challenge, open challenge. If you go to my WrestleChop Plus channel, I actually did on YouTube or on TikTok, I actually did all of the open challenges since Sami Zayn started last year. And holy cow, there's like I lost count how many there are. Mr. Pete says, is the brand split still a thing? Honestly, no. I wish it was though. I loved, I loved when it was a hard brand split. Ortez Detroit says, Sami Zayn committed ginger side. MGT Wrestling, R.I.P. R.I.P. to the gingerbread man, he will be missed. Hope Sammy gets what he deserves. Poor one out. Poor one out for the gingerbread man. Teddy Boy Ward says, Frag Sam asking truth for tax advice. They should have asked Penta. If you watch the WWE commercials, you know what I'm referring to in the past months. Actually, yeah, there's a there is a WWE turbo tax commercial. And Penta, LA Knight, and even Stephanie Vakir are actually really good at it. Like, I'm not, I'm not sponsored by WWE, but that is a that is a commercial that I do enjoy. Penta, Penta does make it. It's it's really silly and it's really funny. Ashi Negan says SmackDown was just unwatchable. Tell me why though. Why was it unwatchable? Because I actually enjoyed it, but it's okay. It's okay to not like it, but I tell you why I enjoy it. So I ask when you say that this sucks, tell me why it sucks. Innovative programmed school. Trick and Sammy are stupid, should have gone with the rise of mellow. I think we could have done all three. Honestly, I think we could have done all three. Almost always is it not? Well, we should have fired that person and not that person. No, there's five and a half to six hours of TV every week. You can literally push multiple people. Killer Wolf says Gunther as undisputed champion would be interesting. And welcome to SmackDown, Ricky Saints. Yeah, Gunther is champion. This is like, I'm very surprised they're doing this because it feels like Gunther should not be losing anytime soon. After retiring John Cena and retiring the phenomenal one, AJ Styles, and retiring the uh some other guy, it feels like Gunther should not be losing. And he's about to get into a program with Cody. So it's like, are they gonna take the belt this quick off of Cody? I don't know. I don't know. Or or if he beats Guther, then it's almost like the the the aura that of of the career killer Guther is just gone. So like I'm very intrigued. This is a very unpredictable feud for me. And if Gunther wins the title, does he just hold on to it forever? It's ODW says JC Jane is got that superstar potential. It's crazy because when she first started off in NXT, she was the third best member in a three-member faction. Yeah, yeah, way to go. JC Jane is truly, honestly, an inspiration. Way to stick it out, way to stick it out because she is leveled up. Kev WWE says SmackDown was solid, but where's Randy Oren, man? He should have appeared. Or we should say something. Like, why not even just suspend Randy Oren? If Randy was gonna be taken off TV, just have Nick Aldous suspend Randy for doing the punt kick. Something? Like, just mention him. He was literally the main event of night one. Where is this dude? Tristan Lee says Guther attacking Cody for no reason is proof that Triple H has no idea what he's doing booking the title matches. And whatever happened to Punk versus Cody match is long overdue. I think the Punk versus Cody match is supposed to be their WrestleMania 43 night one main event. Karen Etheridge says, I think Royce and Jacob coming together as an alliance would be good. Your thoughts, Chop? My thoughts is that would be great. I have not really connected with Royce Keys. I know he has a great, fantastic backstory, origin story, but like as a wrestler, I'm not I'm not really connecting. But when he went up to Jacob and was like, Jacob, you're gonna let them take food off your family's table? You're from the street. Suddenly I got intrigued. And now what if we got this? Like, you got the baby faces, you know, Roman Reigns, the bloodline, you got the heels, solo sequoa, the the MFTs, and then you create a third, a third faction of Jacob Fatu, Royce Keys, like, yeah, I was actually really, really interested in that. And it's almost like it's not Royce Keys, Jacob's enforcer, but it's like just two equals, two guys who came from the bottom and have worked their way to the top. Like, I'm digging that. And if we want to go like from the streets, you could actually maybe use these two to kind of rejuvenate Damien Priest as a credible threat. I'm not saying make Damien Priest the leader of this, of this trio, but what if you had three equals that have been that that came from the streets? Like just a thought, just a thought. But Royce Keys, Jacob Fat 2, I really hope we do this. And I don't want them to be pure baby faces if we do this. I want them, I want them to be able to straddle, straddle the edge of heel and of heel and babyface. Not even anti hero. Some nights they might be heel, some nights they might be babyface. All right, boys, all right, girls, those are your hot takes. See you tomorrow for Monday Night Raw.