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

6. Finding His Mojo

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WWE

An odd segment apropos of nothing else on the broadcast clumsily saw Mojo Rawley apparently giving some children a guided behind-the-scenes tour of SmackDown Live!

Mojo sat the children down for a saccharine recalling of his life as a bullied child who battled through the persecution to seal victory in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 33 kickoff show. Confused yet? The kids weren't.

Wide-eyed with excitement at Rawley's reveal of the mammoth trophy, one of the kids asked to touch the prize then kicked Mojo in the shin. Everybody (or more accurately, nobody) laughed, and 'the tour rolled on'.

It's hard to be too cruel about such a segment, but the SmackDown Live! creative team must make up their minds about what Mojo represents on Tuesday nights. Though presently unharmed by this sort of throwaway material, the time will come where fan indifference will turn to disdain, and Rawley will hear boos that crept through from even the loyalest of Full Sail followers in NXT.

Regrettably for his singles career, the stop-start momentum has prevailed to such an extent that it may just be easier to continue on the same path until his Hype Bro partner Zack Ryder is ready to return to work.

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