3 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Feb 18)

1. Nothing Really Happened?

Roman Reigns Goldberg
WWE.com

SmackDown was pre-taped, which meant that WWE doubled up on content for the live audience last week. That'd explain why Roman Reigns and Goldberg only appeared in backstage promos previously. The E wanted to save their go home staredown for this week's show, which is fair enough.

Y'know what isn't fair enough? The fact that nothing came of it.

Goldberg got in Roman's face briefly and twisted his familiar cries of, "You're next" into something else. "I'm next", he barked. That was a reference to becoming Universal Champ, but it kinda fell flat with the crowd, and the whole segment was severely lacking in drama and intensity.

It was a step backwards from those sit-down interviews both worked individually last week as well. There's just no chance in hell that Goldberg is leaving Saudi with Roman's belt, and everyone knows it. WWE are back to doing a poor job of selling any peril for the champ.

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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.