2 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Nov 13)

by Jamie Kennedy

1. The Roman & Jey Dynamic

Roman Reigns Jey Uso
WWE.com

There was a sneaky amount of character development hiding in plain sight on this week's SmackDown. Jey Uso is smashing it as a slightly unwilling foot soldier for Roman Reigns, and Mr. 'Tribal Chief' has settled into a nice groove with this gimmick. He's making this sh*t look easy right now.

The best moments came when Roman got a little protective of his cousin. For example, he stepped up to warn Drew McIntyre off when the big Scot pushed Jey. This 'big brother' act put across the notion that Reigns likes to be the only one who can shove his cousin around - when somebody else does it, he gets possessive.

Later, Reigns almost put Jey at ease by telling him that he didn't need to beat Drew in the main event. Nah, Uso just had to prove that he could hang with a former WWE Champ. That, again, felt like a big bro moment and let fans peek behind the stoic exterior Roman presents.

The story can just do no wrong. It keeps impressing.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling, check out 8 Things You NEED To Know About AEW’s Video Games and 10 Things Pro Wrestling Is Still Terrible At!

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Contributor

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.