Due to the fact that Christmas is impending, WWE management made the decision to offer up a rare live episode of Smackdown this week. There were also several big matches planned for the broadcast, including bouts for the WWE Tag-Team and Intercontinental Titles. In addition, instead of airing in the usual Thursday time slot, the program was switched to a Tuesday. Of course, Smackdown is normally taped on that day, and it made sense that the show would come across better in a live format. Overall, it did. By far, this was one of the best episodes of Smackdown in a long time. There was an urgency about the program which is often sorely lacking, although not everything came off without a hitch. Of course, Smackdown is set to make a big switch to the USA Network, so hopes are high that WWE will put more emphasis on the show from early-January onwards. This article aims to look at the plus points and negatives from the latest edition of Smackdown. There are 5 different 'ups' presented, but also 3 distinct 'downs' to take a look at from what proved to be a mixed bag in terms of actual wrestling matches.
Downs...
3. The Ascension Jobbed To A Throwaway Team
Is there really any point in continuing to feature The Ascension on main roster programming at this point? Traditionally, regular tag-teams had the advantage over combinations who were thrown together quickly. That's the whole idea behind being a solid unit, but Konnor and Viktor are routinely portrayed as little more than enhancement talent. In fact, The Ascension are coming across worse than that. At this point in time, they're effectively jobbers, and losing to Neville and Titus O'Neil proves that. In just 3 short minutes, the face-painted duo fell to a random pairing, and they didn't really put up much of a fight in that time. The Ascension are a black hole of entertainment on shows these days, and it's not working. Given the fact they're aligned with Stardust, it's only making him look less like a star (ironically) too. The rot will surely stop at some point, but WWE have painted themselves into a corner with the team. If they magically start winning, it won't change the fact that they've been booked as losers for so long. In other words, fans will find it hard to care.
