13 Ups & 1 Down From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Feb 26)
Downs...
1. Uncharacteristic Filler
SmackDown came within a hair of notching a perfect Ups & Downs score this week. Unfortunately, the air of pointlessness surrounding Charlotte Flair's mid-show promo blemishes its overwise flawless score.
It's an odd week for this column when 'The Queen' finishes as a Down, but while Flair was her usual excellent self as she shot on Ronda Rousey and Becky Lynch, the segment wasn't required. At all. It pushed nothing forward. A compelling personality and fantastic heel Charlotte may be, but she didn't say anything new at all. We already know that she thinks she's the best, that she believes Becky got herself arrested on purpose, that Ronda is a paper champion, and that she's God's gift to wrestling, so it's hard to shake the feeling that this segment was only scripted to get Flair on television.
WWE could have dedicated this time to giving Asuka something to do with her SmackDown Women's Championship, like another confrontation with Mandy Rose. Instead, they gave us a copy/paste diatribe from an outstanding talker, but one who had little to say last night.