3 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE Smackdown (Oct 18)

3. Curt Hawkins Wastes Time

Smackdown promised, at long last, to feature the in-ring return of Curt Hawkins. Apollo Crews was ready to meet the former WWE Tag Team Champion in a singles match, but Hawkins wasn't about to simply come down to the ring. He made his way to a boastful voice-over a la Eva Marie (except he had recorded it himself).

Hawkins got in the ring and began cutting a promo on Apollo Crews, leading the former NXT star to knock him down with a punch. After that, a furious Hawkins accused Crews of ruining his debut, then headed to the back, refusing to wrestle.

This is basically the exact same thing WWE was doing with Eva Marie prior to SummerSlam, and I guess they really want to do it, because they're not even waiting for Eva to get back - they just transferred the angle to someone else. Like with Eva Marie, though, it's not interesting, and the eventual payoff isn't going to be worth it. The whole thing feels like a colossal waste of valuable TV time - it's not like this is the three-hour show.