4 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (12 Sept - Results & Review)

1. Rey Fenix Answers Sami’s Open Challenge

This...this is why yours truly was so into the idea of Sami Zayn’s United States Title open challenge when it was announced on last week’s show. Matches exactly like this one vs. Rey Fenix prove it was a good idea. Zayn is great in situations like this, because he’ll sell, sell, sell all day long for his opponent’s best stuff, and he can always work a believable comeback come the closing stretch (win or lose).

There were some notable nifty aerials from Fenix before he was shut down, and Rey generally did himself some serious favours with this performance. He cooled significantly after debuting in April, but seemed to regain some form as part of a fabulous tag-team with Andrade over the summer. Ultimately, he can always return to that after this United States Title one off.

No shame in that.

Zayn is about to embark on one heck of a run though. He's ideal for this sort of 'Open Challenge' format, 'cause the dude can work against pretty much anybody and make it passable at worst. His coming bout with Carmelo Hayes should be excellent, and there’s a burning backstory to that one with The Miz wanting tag titles for he and Melo instead. Keep an eye on things there.

Hopefully, WWE can come back to Sami vs. Fenix in the future, albeit with a properly mapped out story they can get stuck into. They deserve that after producing the goods on Friday night. This was yet another PLE quality bout for the show. Hey, if you're only gonna have 3 matches on the card, at least make them as electric as the Zayn vs. Fenix, McIntyre vs. Orton and Stratton vs. Cargill trio.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling, check out 10 Worst WWE Moments Of 2002 and 10 Worst WWE Moments Of 2003!