4 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Dec 8 - Results & Review)
CM Punk teases some future matches; Charlotte Flair gets injured; Randy Orton gets fined.
"Hell Froze Over".
That's what CM Punk's brand spanking new WWE t-shirt says, but something else was frosty. Namely, the response to Punk's comeback promo on Raw. An awful lot of fans thought it was too tame and generic, but the man more than made up for that on this week's SmackDown.
WWE dressed the show up as a 'Tribute To The Troops' special, but thankfully kept the military stuff to a minimum. A house show-esque main event was still bags of fun, and major stars like Punk, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton kept things moving at a nice zip. The downside? One of those guys offered pretty much nothing of note, and that's uncommon for Cody.
Elsewhere, a promising women's division bout was completely wrecked by injury, and Triple H kept the United States Title contendership tournament ticking along. 'The Game' will need to have a right good think about where one of the tourney participants is heading in the new year though, 'cause things don't look great on that front.
SmackDown was engaging, at least. That's a win for any TV show, and the return of Roman Reigns next week should serve up something more meaningful to blue brand business long term.
Here are all the 'Ups' and the 'Downs'!