7 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE Backstage (Nov 19)
1. Pay What Off?
Booker T's waffle is only as entertaining as the subject at hand, and he struggled to make lemonade from the lemon he was tossed during a largely indifferent 'Pay It Off' segment late in the show. Bless him for trying to get two minutes or so talking about Ali shining in the men's Survivor Series match, but the poor f*cker barely gets to do it on SmackDown as it is - what chance will he have with 14 other men to share the ring with.
It's of course within the show's remit and DNA to talk about and talk up as much as they can about the current product, but both WWE and Fox would be wise to try and load as much of the show up with only the very best of their working week - the presenters may be ex-wrestlers, but they can only sell so much for segments many fans haven't chosen to buy.
Paige even noted that she as getting "evils" before confirming that Bayley was the "right" choice to win at the Survivor Series because she was "Team SmackDown", despite noting that she loved Shayna Baszler and Becky Lynch "didn't need it".
It was telling that CM Punk was offered the Rey Mysterio/Brock Lesnar feud to analyse - that's been the best-booked match on the entire card.