10 Live Observations From Attending WWE SmackDown Live In Manchester

1. We Were Oblivious To The Fiend!

Tyson Fury Braun Strowman
WWE.com

By the time that the SmackDown taping had come to an end, there was a sense of disappointment amongst fans at the fact that we didn't get to see Universal Champion 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt in action.

While there was an accepted acknowledgement amongst the WWE Universe that this joint taping of SmackDown and then Raw wouldn't feature WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, fans had spent all day and all show hoping that The Fiend would turn up to cause chaos on SmackDown.

Sadly, those same fans of SmackDown would be left disappointed at a Bray Wyatt-shaped hole.

Of course, the TV audience tuning in to watch SmackDown later that Friday night would be treated to a backstage segment where The Fiend took out Daniel Bryan in a move that seems to suggest these long-time rivals will be renewing their bad blood and doing battle for the Universal Championship.

It's only today, with the live SmackDown experience in the rear-view mirror, that the penny will have dropped for in-attendance fans that The Fiend was even on SmackDown in the first place.

Why WWE wouldn't show Wyatt's attack on Bryan in the arena, who knows!

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.