5 Ups & 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Backstage (Jan 14)
It's a New Day for WWE Backstage, yes it is!
No CM Punk this week.
And with the clickbait accusations out of the way, on to another relatively pleasing edition of a show that has quietly become the best thing about WWE's billion dollar deal with Fox since it debuted last year.
The company make more money from this arrangement than any in their history, yet SmackDown plays out with familiarity that borders on the frustrating. Roman Reigns grafts atop the card, Bray Wyatt gets stop-start pushed, Daniel Bryan works harder for the art than it does for him and the women are marginalised into fighting over the belt or men. Was any of this any different before Vince McMahon had a Scrooge McDuckian room of cash to dive into?
Of course not - even Backstage is a glossy reimagining of the beloved and much-missed Talking Smack. But it works each week at returning to those lofty heights, even if it isn't quite perfect...