4 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Oct 31)
Ups...
4. Finally Getting It Right
WWE
Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode never really had the match the pair were probably capable of, but their two-out-of-three-falls show opener was a pleasing exhibition of each man's ability to draw a crowd into a match the old fashioned way.
Ziggler's not half as good as he thinks or says he is, but thrived in there with a technician as smooth as Roode. The race for falls early on played well on the cheap conclusions to their first two encounters, and the quick superkick for the first fall was a believable momentum stifler for 'The Glorious One'.
The sunset flip equaliser was a rare use of the move for an actual three-count, smartly subverting crowd expectation of Ziggler's kickout. From there, Roode went up the gears of his underrated babyface act, nailing his stunning spinebuster before both grabbed handfuls of trunks in last gasps before the eventual DDT victory for Bobby.
His post-match call to arms for SmackDown Live! didn't hold the weight of his ice cool NXT verbiage, but his next programme away from the enslavement of the battle of the brands will hopefully guide Roode into a sophomore success.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but 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 in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. 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 sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
