It's been over a month since it was announced that Curt Hawkins was returning to WWE on SmackDown Live as the company wanted to boost the roster depth as they did by bringing back both Rhyno and Jinder Mahal. However, after all this time Hawkins still hasn't appeared in a match on SmackDown and even though he has had promos on TV each week the fans are now growing impatient to see him and not in a good way.
This week's episode of SmackDown was supposed to see the debut/return of Hawkins after he announced during the pre-show of No Mercy (a painfully bad segment) that he would be competing in a match. Yet, SmackDown has come and gone and Hawkins didn't appear once and was involved in a video (below) for WWE.com explaining why he didn't compete.
Time Constraints
Live shows are always unpredictable and timing the show isn't an easy task with segments often over running meaning others get their time cut. That was the case this week with SmackDown simply running out of time and making the decision to cut Curt Hawkins scheduled match from the show, which is now set (apparently) for next week.
Whilst this has happened before and it will happen again it is never a good sign for those involved. For your particular segment to be cut it signifies that it was the least important in the company's eyes and the way Hawkins has been treated since his return hasn't been that of a star. It is unknown whether WWE actually has any plans for him to be used in a serious manner of if he is around to be a comedic relief or a jobber, which is the way that Mahal has been used on Raw.
Hawkins' debut is now set for next week and fans will get to learn more about his new character other than that he likes to tell 'facts,' something that fans are growing tired of already.