13 Things You Might Have Missed From Last Night’s WWE SmackDown

9. WWE Went Back To Justifying Decisions (Sort Of)

Paige GM
WWE

Both Paige and Shane McMahon were conspicuous by their collective absence on last week's SmackDown. As the new General Manager on the brand, Paige was the bigger miss, and there was no attempt from WWE to explain why matches were happening. It wasn't a bad thing.

Things reverted to type this week though. Paige was in the house (she didn't appear in front of the live crowd) and justified a few decisions on the show. She made a match between Mandy Rose and Becky Lynch for next week and used Braun Strowman's actions in Saudi Arabia as the reason why Shane wasn't there.

The announce crew also used her as an excuse for why some matches were happening. Tom Phillips said Paige set up the Orton/Hardy vs. Benjamin/Miz tag-team match during the break, but others occurred without her approval.

It wasn't explained why Paige was making some decisions and not others.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.