14 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Mar 19)

Ups...

14. Chopping Down The Champs

The IIConics
WWE.com

Booking issues aside, the content put forth by SmackDown's women's division was solid last night, and between Peyton Royce, Billie Kay, Bayley, and Sasha Banks, it's hard to fault a single performance. It'd be wrong to hold the unimaginative path they're taking to WrestleMania 35 against them.

The IIconics kicked us off with a short, snappy promo after the Women's Tag Team Champions had made their entrance. Having called Bayley and Banks out the previous week, the Aussies claimed they looked "scared, strange, and small," as if their parents "bought their way into an Ivy League school they couldn't get into," then mocked them for going back to NXT for self-gratification, only to get "chased off their own turf" on Raw. The IIconics then claimed they'd no choice but to face "the best team in WWE," and the bout was on.

Such heat-building segments are necessary with acts like Kay and Royce, who are regularly booked to lose. Here, they stoked the crowd up ahead of an otherwise cold bout, coming off well in the process.

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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.