5 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Nov 7)

3. Manchester Evening Blues

Kofi Kingston Sami Zayn
WWE

Wouldn't it be a nicer world if Shane McMahon could use spectacular contests such as these to highlight how brilliant SmackDown Live is? You know, instead of leading an irrational mob of lunatics to beat up their friends and colleagues for no good reason.

Away from Survivor Series stupidity, Kofi Kingston and Sami Zayn met for the first time since 'The Underdog From The Underground' left for the warm bosom of Kevin Owens. The match was yet another treat from the increasingly inspired Zayn.

The former El Generico has somehow found a way to make all of his traditionally crowd-pleasing spots the type of moves fans can't help but hate. Though rarely if ever scoring the win, heroic Sami would hit his Blue Thunder Bomb and beg and plead for the referee's hand to strike three. Not anymore - he let go, triumphantly raising an indignant fist before swallowing the surprise of its failure to succeed.

Kingston was similarly on fire, upgrading his trust fall to a springboard forward roll dive from the inside out. Flattening him with a leaping crossbody from the top rope, the win felt fortuitous enough that the partners may involve themselves in battle on next week's go home show. More of the same would be just fine.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett