9 Ups & 1 Down From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Sept 25)
Wendy's got a gun?
As pointed out by WhatCulture's Scott Carlson in this week's Raw round-up, WWE have created a booking logjam by building to three separate pay-per-views at once, but while the red brand almost drowned in its own stodginess, this week's SmackDown was a model of efficiency.
These two hours were stuffed with things, but flowed like a river regardless. Its five matches were mostly short and snappy, no one segment overstayed its welcome, and while some struggled to break even a single minute, each served a clear purpose. Such brevity is more than welcome in the era of extreme content bloat.
A pre-announced contract signing turned into an implied invasion as Samoa Joe made moves on the Styles homestead at the show's conclusion, continuing their ongoing storyline. Aiden English answered for his crimes against Rusev and Lana, R-Truth commandeered The Miz's talk show setup to kick things off, and Becky Lynch asserted herself as SD's alpha female once again, crushing two foes in one night. Oh, and Tye Dillinger wrestled his first televised bout since May. Rejoice!
It's hard to call anything on this show objectively bad, as many will consider SD's solitary Down one of its biggest highlights. Subjectivity is a powerful thing, though...