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

2. Your Popularity Doesn't Matter, Mr. Rusev

This week's show was rife with weird booking choices, and while the handicap main event was the most visible example, it wasn't the most egregious.

Breezango vs. Rusev and Aiden English was a fine match. They're four of the more under-appreciated wrestlers in the company, their quality floor is high, and they demonstrated great chemistry. It was a short, succinct back-and-forth affair worked to a classic southern-style format, with Tyler Breeze playing face-in-peril, before Fandango scored the decisive pinfall.

The action was fine, but the outcome? Not so much. SmackDown's writers have no idea how to capitalise on a hot act, which Rusev and English certainly are. The duo are two of the most over guys on their roster, and they regularly draw a monstrous crowd reaction, but the company have absolutely no interest in pushing them whatsoever. Here, they were needlessly defeated by a duo who have spent their past few weeks getting murdered by The Bludgeon Brothers.

The losers' credibility has been obliterated. Having a fun gimmick is all good and well, but if it doesn't result in a solid in-ring push, the fans will stop caring. We saw it with Damien Mizdow a couple of years ago, and now, sadly, Rusev and English appear to be going down a similar path.