3 Ups & 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Jan 9)

3. The Wrong Way Around

Shinsuke Nakamura Randy Orton
WWE.com

SmackDown's main event didn't make any sense.

In booking Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. AJ Styles, Randy Orton, and Shinsuke Nakamura, Shane McMahon effectively painted the brand's biggest trolls as sympathetic characters. They were the ones left battling the odds, not the babyfaces. It works in the sense that the Commissioner was punishing his two biggest foes, but how is anyone supposed to legitimately dislike Zayn and Owens when their overbearing, unlikeable boss regularly puts them in positions like this?

The conventional function of a handicap match is to give the heels the numerical advantage, positioning the faces as plucky, spirited underdogs who aren't going to give up, but probably don't have a hope of winning. Sadly, WWE got everything backwards last night.

There was nothing to the bout from an action standpoint. It was a crowded, overbooked affair focused more on Shane McMahon's power-grab than the wrestlers themselves, with the Commissioner throwing out a daft mid-match "no countouts" stipulation. He got his way in the end, too, as Nakamura and Orton finished the 'bad guys' off with a Kinshasa/RKO combo.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. 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.