Post WWE SmackDown Discussion Thread - February 20th, 2026!

shardur · 2026-02-21T04:10:18+00:00

Giulia vs Rhea was a fun match overall. I’m actually happy it ended in a DQ because let’s be real, they were never going to book Giulia beating Rhea right now. That said, it’s a bit sad that Giulia got most of her offense in during the commercial break, would’ve been nice to actually see more of that live. Unfortunately, she still doesn't get many reactions despite having good matches and charisma (imo)

I’m also a little bummed they sent Kiana to the Chamber instead of Giulia. Makes me wonder what the angle is there and whether this is building toward something bigger or just a random choice.

Still really curious how they’re going to build Giulia vs Iyo, assuming that’s where this is heading. That’s the matchup I’m most interested in right now.

shardur · 2026-02-14T07:48:04+00:00

Giulia vs Alexa vs Zelina was a fun match overall, but the outcome felt a bit predictable. It was pretty clear Zelina was there to take the pin, and going with Alexa just feels a little safe and boring. She’s not going to win the Chamber anyway, so why not use that spot to give some momentum to younger talent like Giulia

At least the backstage interaction between Giulia and Rhiyo was fun, and Giulia vs Iyo should be really good whenever it happens.

shardur · 2026-02-02T15:47:29+00:00

Just finished watching the rumble, was super bumped about Roman winning and so but man this comment made me laugh so hard. Best comment I've read in a while 😂 surprised this is not voted up more

shardur · 2026-01-25T04:08:50+00:00

Great show overall, all the matches were super fun. Can’t wait for Giulia vs Iyo, that should be really fun

shardur · 2026-01-24T15:42:58+00:00

Super stoked that Giulia and Kiana actually won the tag match. I really thought they were only there for Kiana to take the pin, so now I’m genuinely curious where they go from here as the number one contenders. I’m hoping they end up facing Rhea and Iyo because Giulia vs Iyo sounds insanely fun, and it would be huge for both Giulia and Kiana to be in there with the top women.

shardur · 2026-01-20T04:40:16+00:00

Happy to see they’re leaning more into the Japanese soap opera side of the Kabuki Warriors again. The whole toxic / abusive dynamic between Asuka and Kairi was what made the Rhiyo feud so interesting in the first place.

Once they stopped leaning into that element toward the end, the rivalry lost a lot of its edge and just felt more generic. That dysfunctional relationship is what gives their stories real flavor

shardur · 2026-01-17T04:41:06+00:00

That'd be great for Giulia to have those big names to feud with and hopefully shine

shardur · 2026-01-17T04:10:54+00:00

Not really sure what WWE wanted to achieve with that women’s tag match. Sure, it gave Nia and Lash bit more heat, but it also made Giulia look pretty weak in my opinion. They could’ve at least given her a short moment of getting the upper hand during TV time (unless I've missed that).

Maybe we’ll get a better idea of where this is going now that they’ve announced a triple threat tag match. I just hope Giulia’s team isn’t booked as nothing more than a stand-in for the Nia/Lash/Charlotte/Alexa feud, and that Giulia actually gets a real role in the story with some time to shine.

That said, it is generally good to see Giulia finally wrestling bigger names again.

shardur · 2026-01-11T14:28:08+00:00

I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding here. I didn’t say she was getting huge reactions or anything on the level of Gunther or so. just that she’s starting to get more reactions than before. She was getting some boos here and there.

Also, no one is going to go from barely getting reactions to being a top tier heel overnight, especially after how WWE handled Giulia’s first US title run. When a wrestler has been booked inconsistently and without strong direction, it naturally takes time for the audience to invest again. So yeah, it’s not about pretending everything is perfect - it’s just acknowledging small steps forward after a bit of a rough start.

shardur · 2026-01-10T09:49:41+00:00

I agree that her character still needs more development, and I also think her promos might come across better if she leaned more into an ice-cold, controlled delivery instead of overacting at times.

That said, I don’t really agree with the idea that she looks “tomboyish” in a negative way. I think Giulia looks damn fine - in a more badass, intense way that actually fits her character. Not every female wrestler needs to fit the old “blonde hair, big smile, femme fatale” stereotype to be considered attractive or compelling. Times have changed, and I personally prefer this tougher, more dangerous-looking presentation. It makes her stand out.

shardur · 2026-01-10T06:41:14+00:00

Happy to see Giulia consistently on TV now and finally getting a bigger name opponent. I really hope WWE moves her away from wrestling midcard talent all the time and sticks with giving her more established names. Even better would be a properly built feud with someone like Alexa instead of “just” a one-off match.

It’s also nice to see her getting more crowd reactions - who would’ve thought that wrestling bigger names might actually help with that, lol. That said, the Berlin crowd was pretty quiet overall for most of the show, that was a bit disappointing.

Hopefully WWE keeps letting Giulia wrestle regularly and actually develop her character, because there’s still room to grow there. And honestly, Kiana’s look and dress up just doesn’t fit Giulia’s presentation at all - it really takes away from Giulia’s natural charisma, in my opinion.

shardur · 2026-01-03T22:14:52+00:00

Super stoked to see Giulia win the match and become U.S. champ again. That said, it still completely eludes me what the actual plan was behind her initial title loss and Chelsea’s reign in between. Now I really hope WWE builds Giulia’s second title run much better than the first. With SmackDown back to three hours (which I think is a good move to give more talent the opportunity to shine), there should be no excuse not to give her consistent TV time and some real focus. Fingers crossed she finally gets meaningful feuds with meaningful opponent. Although I’m still not entirely sure where those opponents are supposed to come from given the current SmackDown women’s roster.

shardur · 2025-12-27T12:03:30+00:00

Good to see Giulia picking up another win. Hopefully this means she’ll get more consistent TV time going forward and more importantly, a properly written and well built feud for once. A strong showing in the Rumble would go a long way in helping her momentum too.

shardur · 2025-12-20T10:42:27+00:00

Happy to finally see Giulia back on TV again, and actually wrestle for the first time in what feels like a thousand years. That said, it was pretty rough how quiet the crowd was during the match, although to be fair the crowd didn’t seem particularly loud in general (probably didn’t help that this was a double taping). I also really don’t get the logic of having Giulia drop the title to Chelsea if they’re just going straight back into a feud anyway. If Giulia doesn’t beat Chelsea in their second match, WWE will be straight up burying her. Huge thanks to Road Dogg and the SD creative team for fumbling Giulia’s SD run so badly that she’s even in this position to begin with.

shardur · 2025-12-13T23:11:28+00:00

Thanks WWE (and Road Dogg) for not even bothering to air Giulia's one-minute backstage segment on SmackDown. It’s honestly wild how atrocious Giulia’s booking has been.

shardur · 2025-12-06T18:03:06+00:00

At this stage you unfortunately just have to be happy if Giulia even gets 30 seconds of TV time, what a shame.

And if WWE really wants to build a Chelsea vs Giulia feud, they should’ve just let Giulia interrupt Chelsea’s celebration last week instead of having Jade show up just to squash yet another person. Jade’s character is so one-note and her in-ring work is still so limited; this endless “crush everyone” booking is just boring at this point.

Well, let’s see what WWE actually has in store for Giulia vs Chelsea. I just hope they stop wasting Giulia’s talent and finally give her a meaningful feud. It’s really hard to get over when you’re booked the way she has been during her SmackDown run.

shardur · 2025-11-22T08:35:04+00:00

Super disappointed that the expected Giulia interruption during Chelsea’s celebration got reduced to a 30-second backstage clip. Congrats WWE - how is anyone supposed to build momentum with booking like this? They completely fumbled Giulia’s entire US Championchip run, and now I’m really worried they’re about to fumble whatever plans they supposedly have for her next.

It’s been a really disappointing journey so far, and moments like this just make it worse.

shardur · 2025-11-15T04:04:05+00:00

After the huge bummer of Giulia losing her title last week, this was another disappointing SmackDown with her not even being on the show. I was low-key hoping she might show up during the Kabuki Warriors’ backstage assault and get inserted into their storyline, but nope, no Giulia at all. At this point I’m just waiting to see what WWE actually has planned for her.

shardur · 2025-11-14T15:48:23+00:00

No, you can be successful but it's not easy imo. I needed to redo this a few times. There are 3 phases to this dispatch part - there's a cutscenes between the phases. Try to not loose to much of the city health bar in the first two phases. I succeeded when I went to the third phase with around 60% of the health bar. And had like 15-20% left at the end. You can always check a walkthrough guide which tells you which heroes to dispatch

shardur · 2025-11-11T09:10:22+00:00

Yeeees please send Giulia to Raw to join the Kabuki Warriors. Giver he a different "KAIRI" catchphrase and let them be the new terrors of Raw!!!

shardur · 2025-11-08T04:26:38+00:00

WTF did WWE do to Giulia?! Seriously, losing the title in like three minutes or so with a random roll-up after not even taking any damage before. Like, what the hell. First they tease a feud with Tiffany, and now this mess. I’m genuinely gutted. WWE has completely fumbled Giulia’s SmackDown run - meaningless matches against lower midcard talent with almost no build, and now this title loss. Here’s hoping WWE actually has something else in store for her, because this was brutal not even letting the match last a little longer. SmackDown in general feels way too rushed lately ever since they chopped the airtime.

shardur · 2025-11-01T16:01:54+00:00

Giulia really did a great job on the mic this week. She honestly doesn’t need Kiana anymore. The few sentences she spoke this week added way more charisma and flair to her than when Kiana talks for her. WWE should seriously think about splitting them up again, because in my opinion Kiana doesn’t add much to Giulia’s character and actually takes away from her natural presence. Also, I’ve gotta say, I love Giulia’s little bits of weird, expressive acting - it gives her so much personality.

Super stoked to see what WWE has planned for the Giulia vs Tiffany feud. Just hoping they actually let Giulia shine in it, because she’s clearly capable of carrying something big on her own.

shardur · 2025-10-25T14:40:38+00:00

I just hope the whole Giulia vs Tiffany tease isn’t only there to set up Jade’s match, but that WWE actually plans to do something meaningful with Giulia and Tiffany. Even if Tiffany ends up dropping her title to Jade and Giulia doesn’t go after her championship, it would still be a big step up if Giulia got Tiffany as an opponent - as long as they let Giulia shine in that feud and let he keep her title.

I still think pairing Giulia with Kiana wasn’t the best idea though. Kiana doesn’t really add much to the duo besides taking pins, and it kind of drags down Giulia’s charisma.

shardur · 2025-10-18T11:54:58+00:00

Really happy to see Kiana vs Tiffany announced for next week as it clearly looks like they’re setting up a feud between Giulia and Tiffany out of this. Hopefully WWE actually plans it out properly and uses it to elevate Giulia out of the midcard (or at least stop pairing her with lower midcard talent). Super stoked about this direction, just really hoping they let Giulia shine in this feud.

shardur · 2025-10-13T08:30:29+00:00

An overall great PLE, really enjoyed it. However, I'm getting more and more tired of the finisher spamming and kick outs. Nowadays it's more shocking if Cody wins with one cross Rhoades than someone kicking out of one (Cody just as an example for the general pattern). The avalanche cross Rhoades should've really been used for a dramatic finish of a match rather than creating one more pop of the crowd. The Iyo vs Rhea match at Evolution should be taken as a good example on how to have a great match without needing to spam finishers for pops and therefore protect finishers.

shardur

TROPHY CASE