3 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (8 Nov)

1. Survivor Series' Malaise

Bayley Shayna Baszler
WWE.com

November is a fairly tedious time to be a WWE fan. The company enjoy booking around times of the year rather than reacting to trends or characters catching fire. That's why they like this inter-brand warfare at Survivor Series, the 'Road To WrestleMania' ballyhoo of Royal Rumble and the "everyone wants a shot" lead-in to MITB.

It's dull. Dull, dull, dull.

The latest SmackDown furthered the notion that WWE book in cycles. Shayna Baszler attacked Bayley in an identikit segment from last week, and fans could hardly muster an "Ooh" or an "Aah". That's not the talent's fault, it's more down to the fact that this is just an unexciting time of the year when nothing seems to be at stake.

The importance of titles are dulled by this brand pride b*llocks, wrestlers are miscast to fit the pay-per-view's theme and everything carries a meh feel. It doesn't help that Bayley is being treated like the third wheel between Baszler and Becky Lynch.

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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.