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

Ups...

4. Gel! Gel! Gel!

Ricochet Imperium Ludwig Kaiser Giovanni Vinci
WWE.com

Normally, seeing two guys pushed together randomly to win a tag-team tournament would suck, but Braun Strowman and Ricochet deserve a ton of credit. They've shown some solid chemistry in recent weeks, and they do represent fresh speed-bump challengers for The Usos next week.

Sure, the whole tourney was strange. That's undeniable, and yet Braun/Rico vs. Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci was a really good opener for SmackDown. Fans were into it (few play babyface in peril before launching a comeback as well as Ricochet), and the heels bounced around for Strowman as expected.

Those Imperium lads better get a title reign later in the year. Just saying.

It's genuinely hard to argue with this kind of tag-team fare. The big man/little man dynamic the faces have going on works, and the Kaiser/Vinci duo know how to play their roles to a tee. Now, WWE have a question to answer about Jey Uso's involvement next week, which is one hell of a hook.

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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.