4 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Oct 31)
1. Knackeredmura
WWE
Burned by the mess WWE made with his debut and introductory feud with Dolph Ziggler, your writer penned a largely castigated piece about how, eventually, his entire run would follow the same downward trajectory.
It was far from blind pessimism. 'The King Of Strong Style' was and still is a truly special talent, and his run in NXT had highlighted that enough people within the bloated WWE hierarchy new how to manage his unique talents. Sadly, those voices didn't speak loud enough, and his summer of discontent continued as he found himself on the losing end of an offensive (and offensively booked) storyline with Jinder Mahal.
Drained of his aura, Shinsuke seems to have accepted his place on the fringes of importance, becoming an ordinary WWE2K18 version of the mesmerising talent that first emerged at TakeOver: Dallas.
His unspoken bond with Randy Orton seems to seal it. Surely nobody would get on with 'The Viper' unless they were as vanilla as the colour Orton skin used to be before he joined the main event sunbed club. Nakamura's second televised encounter with Kevin Owens was again a crushing disappointment, with Shinsuke understandably going through the motions en route to winning a spot on the Survivor Series team. It's been an upsettingly deep dive into mediocrity, to the point where the stylish and dynamic star probably won't even be a*sed enough to adjust his red colour palette on the night itself.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
