7 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Oct 23)
1. The Lack Of Evolution Build
Though you'd never tell from the broadcast itself, this was supposed to be WWE's big Evolution go-home show. You know, the historic, significant, game-changing all-women pay-per-view announced by the saviour of women's wrestling herself, Stephanie McMahon, in a spotlight-grabbing, credit-thieving, chest-beating promo back in July?
Evolution was given little focus last night. Promoting Crown Jewel was WWE's priority, and with only a couple of video packages, the Becky Lynch/Charlotte Flair Performance Center angle, and the battle royal kerfuffle, this week's pay-per-view build was borderline pathetic.
This is an important show, so it's baffling that WWE didn't give it stronger focus. Yes, Crown Jewel is a bigger money-maker, yes, it can't be easy building to multiple PPVs at once, and yes, modern go-home shows tend to follow this trend, but shouldn't the promotion be going all-out to actually promote a potential landmark event?
A banger match or two and a couple of angles that we haven't already seen a thousand times before would have done the job, and there were plenty of things on this show that could've been subbed out. Alas, though...