2 Ups & 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 12)
Limping across the finish line.
Do you like endless tedium, tired formulas, and the overwhelming feeling that your fandom is once again being taken for granted? Then boy, do we have the show for you!
Last night's SmackDown was completely skippable. A typical Network era go-home show, it generated little excitement for Sunday's Clash Of Champions pay-per-view, with each of the brand's major players limping over the finish line. WWE are well-known for mailing it in throughout December, of course, but this was bad, even by last week's lowly standards.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn continued their smear campaign against Commissioner Shane McMahon, who wasn't in attendance last night, leaving Daniel Bryanalone at the controls. Elsewhere, AJ Styles' ponderous feud with Jinder Mahal continued, the Women's, Tag Team, and United States Champions all contested non-title bouts, and an old face resurfaced as The Bludgeon Brother's latest squash match victim.
SmackDown was excellent throughout November, but it's almost like the creative team switched to autopilot as soon as the calendar hit December 1st. This was the brand's second consecutive flop, and while a couple of individual performances helped prevent it from complete disaster, it'll go down as a night characterised by banality.
Let's tear it apart...