10 Things We Learned From The Post-WrestleMania Smackdown Live!

4. Ten

Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

After a soft-launch at the Royal Rumble and following months of his 'ten' chant taking over shows, Tye Dillinger finally debuted on the main roster temporarily as a Smackdown Live! performer until next week's shake-up confirms his permanent status.

It was a very homogonised WWE introduction for 'The Perfect 10' gimmick, but short televised squash was an ideal premise for him to rapidly establish the persona to anybody not yet familiar with him.

Brushing aside Curt Hawkins with ease, Tye showed the poise and grace that has made him such a vital utility player in NXT, but it will be interesting to see how long they can keep the character a babyface in the more complex landscape of the main roster.

Tye experienced somewhat of a backwards success story in the developmental brand, with his long tenures in the WWE system seemingly relegating him to enhancement status for good after another failed attempt to get him over in a passable tag team with Jason Jordan.

It was after the split that the 'Perfect 10' element came to the front, but even up to last Saturday, he has eaten endless defeats that in theory would totally undermine the concept.

What that journey has done though, is build respect from the audience for the hard work the real-life Ronnie Arneill has put into making it.

It will be interesting to see if WWE can maintain (or ideally, increase) that level of support.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett