The gingerbread man angle on “WWE SmackDown” was funny for a while, and it kind of brought out a subtle, silly Attitude Era vibe. Trick Williams started calling then-United States Champion Sami Zayn a “gingerbread man” in their feud leading up to WWE WrestleMania 42, even going as far as releasing a diss track alongside Lil Yachty with the same title, all making fun of Zayn’s hair color and build.

Williams brought out a person in a life-sized (or man-sized?) gingerbread man costume to continue to egg on Zayn, but the second time the costumed person accompanied Williams and Yachty to the ring, it was, of course, Zayn, beneath the gingerbread head. He beat them both down while wearing the costume, and it was funny. Of course it was Zayn in the costume, as anyone who has watched WWE for a long period of time would realize, but it was still cute and amusing. And that’s where the entire thing should have ended.

On Friday’s edition of the blue brand, in some of the most Vince McMahon-esque booking I’ve seen in a hot minute, Zayn cut a promo on the empty gingerbread man costume in the middle of the ring, then attacked it. Okay, that’s also fine, I guess, as I realize they’re trying to turn Zayn fully heel, but then WWE just had to take it even further, and that’s when things got ridiculous. Medical staff checked on the, again, EMPTY, costume in the ring and took it back to the trainer’s room.

We then saw a serious update with Cathy Kelley backstage, accompanied by Williams, who was informed the gingerbread man is dead. At that point Williams vowed to take on Zayn for the title he won at WrestleMania, this time at Backlash. It was then further revealed that a funeral will be held for the gingerbread man on “SmackDown” next week. Yeesh.

This is a prime example of “SmackDown” not needing its current three hour runtime, which thankfully, reportedly, comes to an end at the end of the month. The “funeral” is obviously going to lead to a brawl before Backlash between Williams and Zayn, but WWE creative beating the gingerbread man angle into the ground is pretty lame. It also makes Zayn look like a very silly heel, rather than a serious one, which in turn doesn’t make him look like any kind of serious contender to get the United States Championship back.

Zayn’s character direction was already murky as fans started to boo him, and now it’s even more confusing, and overall, kind of lame. WWE creative is the real loser this week.

Written by Daisy Ruth