12 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Apr 23)

7. Black's Big Words

WWE have made a tit of Aleister Black's main roster character so far. The Ricochet tag team was acceptable and yielded some fun matches, but nothing about their personalities was compatible. What did they talk about in the locker-room before the show, or on the road afterwards? They had nothing in common other than their WWE roots.

In fleeting skits and promos, Aleister was limited to his goofy "fade to Black" catchphrase. It reeked of main roster cheese, but last night, finally, the former NXT Champion was allowed to address the crowd as himself, and it came off well.

Sitting in a dark room (obviously), the former Tommy End said that the fans know who he is, but perhaps not what he is. "The name and the persona are not the same thing," he added, "and the aesthetic of the persona shouldn't evoke certain reactions, but it does." His story will come alive in time, and he promised to show the audience that the world he came up in will leave him condemned.

Those suffering from a phobia of big words won't be into this, but it clicked. It's a mystery that will unravel over multiple episodes, and there wasn't a dumb catchphrase in sight, marking this as a double victory.