Vince Russo is weighing in on WWE’s wild Gingerbread Man funeral segment from SmackDown, and while he did not hate the bit, he had one major problem with how WWE handled it.
The May 8 episode of WWE SmackDown took place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, and the main event segment centered around a full funeral for the Gingerbread Man. The ring was set up like a memorial service, with the Gingerbread Man placed in a casket as Trick Williams led the ceremony. While speaking on his YouTube channel, Russo addressed the segment and noted that the bit was produced by Molly Holly.
“Then we got into the gingerbread man part of it. And we found out online that all this was produced by, I guess, Molly Holly.”
Russo admitted that, just from watching clips, he thought Trick Williams came across well during the funeral portion. He pointed to the in-ring setup, the casket, the choir, and the overall performance as something that showed Trick’s entertainment value.
“Okay, I’ve got to tell you—there are two things. First of all, again guys, just watching the clips, I saw the in-ring where the Gingerbread Man is in the basket—and casket, I’m sorry—and then Trick Williams has little Yeezy—what is his name? Yeezy. Little Yeezy—and he’s got a little female choir, and they’re doing their church thing. They’re paying their last rites, which I thought really showed that Trick is very, very, very, very talented. That was good. That was entertaining.”
Russo then said WWE still found a way to hurt the segment, even though he thought the funeral itself had entertainment value. He also argued that the whole concept felt more like something a heel would do than a babyface.
“But WWE always has to mess it up some way. So I have no problem with that. And again, bro—even though that’s a heel—that is a heel thing. That is not a babyface thing. That’s a heel thing. But regardless, it was entertaining.”
The part that really bothered Russo came during the funeral viewing, where several WWE stars appeared as part of the scene. His biggest issue was Nick Aldis being included, because Russo believes Aldis should be protected as SmackDown’s authority figure.
“Here’s my problem, Ben—and this is why I think we get into the ribs and the this and the that. So then they actually have the viewing, and they have a whole bunch of WWE stars there at the funeral.”
Russo said the segment could have worked better if WWE only used heels in the funeral scene, because they could have played around with the ridiculous nature of the moment. Instead, he felt WWE made a bad call by putting Aldis in the middle of it.
“Now, bro, again, if you want—see, again, this is a heelish thing—so if you want heels hanging out at the funeral, that’s funny. They could have fun with this. But what does WWE do, bro? They put Nick Aldis in the middle of that.”
Russo then questioned why WWE would have its on-screen authority figure selling the death of the Gingerbread Man as part of a comedy segment.
“Why in God’s name would you ever do that? Nick Aldis is supposed to be the authority figure of the company, and he’s selling at a gingerbread man—whatever he’s called—funeral. That’s what I mean by, does anybody take a look at any of this? Should you really have your authority figure on the show as part of this comedy scene? No, absolutely not.”
Russo also clarified that he was not burying the entire segment. In fact, he said he usually criticizes WWE when the company does nothing different, so he was not going to completely tear down something that at least tried to stand out.
“And that’s the problem, guys. I’m not burying this. I bury WWE when they do nothing. I bury them when they do the same thing over and over and over again. So something like this, I’m not going to bury because it’s different. There are going to be some people that like it. There are going to be some people that hate it.”
Russo ended by saying he found Trick Williams entertaining and did not hate the segment, but he still could not understand why WWE placed Nick Aldis in that specific comedy scene.
“I think he’s very entertaining. I didn’t hate this. But again, why in God’s name would you put the authority figure in that freaking scene, which was absolutely ridiculous?”
The segment itself ended with a surprise reveal, as the Gingerbread Man got out of the casket and turned out to be Lil Yachty under the mascot head. Lil Yachty attacked Sami Zayn with the cane from the Gingerbread Man’s hands before Trick Williams hit the Trick Shot to close the show.
Sami Zayn had interrupted the funeral earlier and called out Trick Williams for turning the whole thing into a stunt aimed at trolling him. That led to the final physical angle before Backlash, where Trick and Sami were already set to continue their United States Title issue.
Molly Holly being listed internally as the producer for the segment also drew attention, especially since the Gingerbread Man funeral became one of the most talked-about comedy bits from that episode of SmackDown. Russo may not have hated the idea, but his issue with Nick Aldis being part of the funeral scene was very clear.
What do you think about Vince Russo calling out WWE for putting Nick Aldis in the Gingerbread Man funeral segment? Did WWE go too far with the comedy, or did the segment work for you? Let us know your thoughts and leave your feedback in the comments.
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