4 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Feb 23 - Results & Review)
3. Lifeless Backstage Skits
As aforementioned, WWE pre-taped this week's SmackDown.
Normally, that means an episode will be crammed with backstage skits and lots of time-killing exercises like recaps or ads. The company certainly went heavy on the pre-taped backstage stuff. Understandably so, but most didn't actually achieve anything or push stories forwards.
Exceptions could be Legado del Fantasma's attack on the LWO, or Dakota Kai getting injured and blaming Damage CTRL for it (thus getting Bayley onside a little). Everything else? Nah, it was painfully dull. There was a show-long thread of Roman Reigns looking to get a word with Grayson Waller. Thrilling.
WWE has a nasty habit of expecting the roster to work miracles with paper-thin material when they're pre-taping. As a result, those tasked with talking don't have much to say. This show definitely could've done with cutting a few of these segments in favour of more match time in-ring.