12 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (May 28)

2. He Who Says Nothing

Having missed last week's show, Aleister Black returned with another dark room/dark suit promo, doing nothing to salvage his ongoing angle after jumping the shark on 14 May.

The big moody goth rattled through some nonsense about "the heretic ways of man," before claiming "it's obvious that everyone is waiting for [me] to throw out a name and pick a fiight with somebody." Black called this a conundrum, then flipped it around, saying he was just sitting there, waiting patiently for "somebody, anybody to pick a fight with [me]." Aleister smiled as the segment, ahem, faded to black.

Having inherited Bray Wyatt's old role of using several sentences without really saying anything, Black's SmackDown presence continues to be a complete waste of time. Compare this with the vignettes hyping his NXT debut. The difference is night and day, and this is one of the most galling examples of taking a detailed, nuanced developmental character and dumbing him down for mainstream audiences.

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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.