10 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Jan 29)
1. A Perfect Opener
Everybody has a plan until Becky Lynch punches them in the mouth.
Charlotte Flair learned this the hard way last night, paying for her interruption with a mouthful of knuckle meat. Lynch offered no verbal retort to her obnoxious heel promo. Instead, she stood there wearing a widening smile, nodding her head, waiting for the right moment. The building exploded as Becky finally hit Flair right in the kisser, but Charlotte would have the last laugh, attacked 'The Man' as she made her exit, going straight after the injured leg before officials finally pulled them apart.
An excellent, excellent promo preceded this explosion. A typically cocksure address saw Becky tick every necessary box, from her defeat against Asuka, to her Royal Rumble triumph, all the way through to the impending Ronda Rousey clash. Calling 'Rowdy' an "arrogant dope," she went in on the dismal way in which Rousey's MMA career ended, put herself over for working from the Kickoff Show to the WrestleMania main event, then promised to break Ronda's arm in said bout.
Your writer can't think of a single way in which this segment could have been improved. It was played perfectly, with both performers revelling in their contrasting roles, amplifying their heat to keep the prospect of the rumoured WrestleMania Triple Threat bubbling away. We can't wait to see how it pans out.