4 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Feb 3)

Downs...

3. Making Up Numbers

Natalya Zelina Vega Sharpshooter
WWE.com

Everyone worked hard during the in-ring main this week, but it just wasn't very exciting. The lure? A berth in the upcoming Elimination Chamber match to determine a new number one contender for Bianca Belair's Raw Women's Title. Yeah, on SmackDown - WWE has probs given up on the whole brand thing.

Cross-brand pollution wouldn't matter one bit if fans cared about what they were seeing. They didn't. Natalya winning was as predictable as it was dull (she'll be relied upon to keep everyone right in the Chamber), and Shayna Baszler is completely lost in limbo yet again.

Why does this keep happening to her?!

The live crowd in South Carolina never seemed to give a toss about who was qualifying for the match. This was a qualifier for a qualifier, basically, and that made thrills and spills hard to come by. It'd be really hard to give this an 'Up', so it opens the 'Downs'.

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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.