6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Jan 20)
Ups...
6. Imperium Advances
The backup brigade rules.
Calling Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci that isn't an insult. They clearly play second and third fiddle to GUNTHER in Imperium, but that doesn't mean the lads shouldn't get some shine of their own in the tag division. This ongoing tournament is the perfect time to do that.
Kaiser and Vinci had a cool little match vs. Butch and Ridge Holland here. It wasn't as good as the opening tag (stay tuned), but that one set a high bar. Besides, it's always gonna be a good time when workers like Pete Dunne and Ludwig are in there working sequences and trading holds.
It's pleasing to see one of the better tags WWE has on its roster score a win. Everyone watching knows where this is all headed (Drew/Sheamus vs. Kaiser/Vinci), and that's fine. There's a top, top, top tag-team bout coming up on SmackDown, and this tidy scrap was nice setup for it.