11 Ups & 1 Down From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Oct 30)
Ups...
11. An Effective Crown Jewel Build
We can't chastise SmackDown's writers for doing a poor job of building towards Evolution the previous week without dedicating an entry to the solid job they did with Crown Jewel last night. Say what you will about the pay-per-view, and WWE's decision to honour their legally-binding Saudi Arabian contract, but the Tuesday night show went home effectively.
The company addressed the Daniel Bryan situation with an exciting turn of events that sees the PPV lose a potentially world-class WWE Championship match, but boosted with the best possible compromise. The Bar and New Day's tag team rivalry was pushed forward via this year's wacky Halloween-themed gimmick match, and SD's World Cup participants were all over the show, cutting promos and engaging in the evening's main event.
Crown Jewel's political side is a minefield, but as far as SmackDown goes, the creative side has been fine. Let's just hope the PPV itself is high on fun action, and low on the rampant political propaganda that blighted the Greatest Royal Rumble.