3 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE SmackDown (April 29)

WWE pivots on WrestleMania Backlash stip; Drew McIntyre roars back; 'Beat The Clock' flops.

by Jamie Kennedy
Charlotte Flair Drew Gulak
WWE.com

Hey, at least Drew Gulak is on TV...right?

This week, Gulak was SmackDown's guest timekeeper for the main event 'Beat The Clock' bouts. Predictably, he caught another beating from an irate Charlotte Flair when things didn't go her way - WWE's writers are clearly getting a kick out of this. The positive? Gulak is on telly. The negative? This headliner wasn't good at all.

On the plus side, Raquel Rodriguez got a strong showing, Drew McIntyre is back in the World Title frame and WWE put on a whopper of a Steel Cage match to kick off the night. Honestly, if you only watch one match from this week's SmackDown, make it that one. Pretty much everything else had some crummy booking working against it anyway.

The midcard mix is a real problem for WWE these days. They're struggling to get acts over, and there's just a humdrum glaze on most programs that's hard to overlook. Again, staying positive (or trying to!), it's cool to see McIntyre back near the top of the cards.

SmackDown could use a spark though. Maybe the rekindling of Roman Reigns vs. Drew will give it that?

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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.