10 Live Observations From Attending WWE SmackDown Live In Manchester

4. Shorty G Is Dead In The Water

Tyson Fury Braun Strowman
WWE.com

Having seen Chad Gable's awful Shorty G change-up take place over the past month or two of WWE TV, it was disheartening over those months to see WWE lumbering one of their very best in-ring talents with such a shocking makeover. But to see Shorty G in the flesh, well that was just heartbreaking.

In terms of reactions, few people on SmackDown received as little a response as the Olympian. It was sad to see, it was frustrating to watch, and the crowd just felt sorry for Gable at being handed such a stupid change of character.

The Shorty G gimmick is absolutely dead in the water, and the longer WWE continues to persist with this character for Chad Gable, the more audiences are going to stop caring about this ridiculously talented and charismatic grappler.

From being in the Manchester Arena audience, it felt as if the crowd were all fans of Chad Gable, yet all were unenthusiastic about the role in which this former NXT, SmackDown, and Raw Tag Team Champion has now been placed.

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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.