11 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Jun 18)

2. Stone Dead

Seth Rollins Bo Dallas
WWE.com

Top male "babyface" Seth Rollins invaded SmackDown last night, continuing his crusade against hapless midcarders, with Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel the latest to fall to his chair-swinging antics.

The Stone Cold comparisons are off-base. Steve Austin came off like a hard, give-no-f*cks badass raging against an evil, oppressive regime. Seth Rollins does not. The only remote similarity is that Rollins is a "good guy" indulging in untraditional good guy behaviour, so the comparison is lazy as hell. Are we really comparing him to the greatest anti-hero character the sport has ever produced, here? Come on.

And if the idea is that a paranoid Rollins is taking these guys out because he's not quite himself at the moment, WWE aren't putting it across well. There are no excuses for bad storytelling. Rather than feeling like a guy fed up with looking over his shoulder for Brock Lesnar, this Seth Rollins feels like 2013 Sheamus, or the very worst version of John Cena. Quite an achievement for someone who's supposed to be some kind of folk hero.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.