2 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (31 Oct - Results & Review)

1. A Match Nobody Needs To See Again

Nia Jax Alexa Bliss
WWE.com

Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss was rough, uncoordinated and frankly poor for 2 workers this experienced. What's happened to Nia? She's lost all of the steam she's had since returning in late-2023, and Bliss should be working tag-team matches with Charlotte Flair rather than retreading old ground with Jax. Not sure what the point of this was, honestly. It matched Carmelo Hayes vs. Kit Wilson in terms of being completely skippable, but it was longer and drawn out.

The match struggled to get going, the live crowd wasn’t interested, Nia isn’t exactly going to be challenging for the tag belts, and it was sloppy from start to finish. Sadly, even WWE’s highlights on YouTube would find it difficult to get 3 minutes worth showing out of this. Worse, they’ve confirmed Nia vs. Charlotte for next week. Again, what’s the need for any of this?!

Is Jax going after the Women's Tag-Team Titles on her own? No, and the champs were talking about The Kabuki Warriors during a pre-match promo rather than focusing on Nia. If you're going to book matches for the sake of booking matches, then at least make them bangers like the ones Ilja Dragunov is having for the United States Title (and Sami Zayn before him).

It'd be a cruel prank to play on fellow fans if someone said: 'Dude, go watch that Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss match from the Halloween SmackDown. It rocked!'. You'd quickly get a voice note calling you every name under the sun, 'cause this was a complete and utter waste of 10 minutes.

Roll on Nia vs. Flair, eh?

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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.