I love Bobby Lashley. I love the Street Profits. I love Karrion Kross and Scarlett. But this feud, set up entirely through video packages and nothing face-to-face, is just not doing it for me, so therefore, I hate it all, no matter how much I love most of the pieces.

To begin with, I really don’t like Kross’ faction name of “The Final Testament.” I can’t quite put my finger on why — maybe it just sounds cliche, but it doesn’t work for me. I also am not as familiar with The Authors of Pain as maybe I should be; outside of all the news on their failed promotion. I assume Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins are meant to feud with them while Lashley feuds with Kross, and both are feuds I don’t feel like I need on “SmackDown.” Neither is very exciting to me, and maybe that’s because it’s all been set up through promos and pre-recorded videos. Next week, we’re getting these teams face-to-face, but during Kross’ video tonight, he didn’t specify if they were having a match or just going to have a promo battle in the middle of the ring. I’m usually all for story and set-up, but I just want to see these guys fight and get it over with, if that’s what we’re doing.

It also worries me for Kross and Scarlett. I feel like they’ve been packaged, repackaged, released, rehired, and repackaged again so many times that it’s to the point of ridiculous. Pairing them with AOP, who have apparently been signed to the company and not used for almost a full year, if reports are to be believed, just seems like a death sentence, for lack of a better term. And leave it to me to look farther in to the future than maybe necessary, but where the heck do Kross, Akam, and Rezar go after facing Lashley and the Profits?

Since getting rehired, Kross and Scarlett have just been floundering and not doing much, which is unfortunate with how strongly Kross was booked on “NXT” and the fact that Scarlett would actually mix it up in the ring herself in the indies. They are probably the most disappointing re-signing of the Triple H era for me, and I can’t decide whether WWE is trying too hard or not trying hard enough to make this “Final Testament” stable work.

Written by Daisy Ruth