4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Nov 26)
WWE make Toni Storm look stupid; SmackDown reveals a new contender; Brock Lesnar is back.
Thank f*ck Survivor Series is over.
That pay-per-view is a creative noose round WWE's neck every year, and it will be until they quit pretending that anybody cares about the "brand supremacy" nonsense. The good news is that SmackDown pulled the nose up a bit this week - there are several interesting stories bubbling away.
Brock Lesnar will return on next week's episode too. That was the biggest takeaway by far, but there was backup in the form of Sami Zayn becoming a new Universal Title contender and the possibility that WWE will spin Sonya Deville out of her story with Naomi into a feud with somebody much higher-profile.
Then...there was the bad. The company's obsession with theming specific episodes around real-life holidays meant that Vince McMahon's love of "hilarious" food fighting continued. That spelled disaster for Toni Storm and an otherwise-well worked Rick Boogs vs. Angel match.
The brand new Day 1 show is looming, and WWE has the Royal Rumble to focus on beyond that. Being honest, anything will be better than the Raw vs. SmackDown tripe they've been serving for much of the month.
Here's all the good and the bad from Friday's latest.