4 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Oct 31)

1. Knackeredmura

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.