7 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (May 29)

When Big Cass gives you lemons, paint 'em gold.

Samoa Joe Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

Another week, another rock solid episode of SmackDown.

The supposed B-show is back in fashion, delivering fun weekly offerings that routinely outshine Raw at a level of consistency not seen since summer 2016. It's rarely excellent, but it's never objectively bad anymore, and last night's was in line with recent weeks in terms of quality.

Big Cass made sure we didn't get the advertised Daniel Bryan vs. Samoa Joe singles match. A shame, as it would've continued the former General Manager's recent string of strong one-on-ones, but the switch wasn't entirely negative, and the segment that spawned it was one of the night's biggest highlights.

Elsewhere, we got another continuation of last week's show, as The Miz aligned with Sheamus and Cesaro for a six-man tag against The New Day. Asuka met Mandy Rose as a tune-up for her eventual match with Carmella, Shinsuke Nakamura's 10-count games continued, and Lana and Naomi engaged in a dance off that probably should've sat somewhere between Bobby Lashley's sisters and the B-Team BBQ in terms of cringe, but didn't.

Negatives are inevitable, but neither of this week's were anywhere near egregious enough to dim SmackDown's shine. Hats off to everyone not responsible for scripting that tag promo...

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.