10 Things We Learned From WWE SmackDown In The UK (May 9)

1. All-In

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WWE.com

The six-man tag main event brought together three unlikely babyface allies in a quest to diminish their individual Backlash opponents. In an increasingly tense SmackDown women's division, the fan favourites were made to tersely park their differences in order to crack the solidified unit of the Welcoming Committee.

Picking up another victory for the group, Natalya defeated Becky Lynch after Charlotte and Women's Champion Naomi failed to work as cohesively as their heel counterparts running outside interference.

Charlotte's efforts to remove Naomi from the action at risk of disqualification distracted Lynch long enough for the Hart alumna to score the win, but the 'Irish Lass Kicker' galvanised the squabbling trio in a follow-up segment to set the table for the Backlash clash.

It was yet another wonderfully simple bit of wrestling storytelling to get the talented sextuplet to the next chapter of the tale, before likely allowing a host of individual spinoffs that should furnish the division with matches for months to come and usefully delay an inevitable super-clash between Flair and Lynch.

Not only a great angle by it's own merits, the angle stands in terrific contrast to Monday Night Raw's woeful mishandling of the title and division at large.

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