4 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (13 Dec - Results & Review)

Ups...

4. Prefer This To Vacating The Belts

This was a much more pleasing Nick Aldis segment.

The SmackDown GM told Bianca Belair that his investigation into who attacked Jade Cargill is still ongoing, but added she’d likely have to relinquish the Women’s Tag-Team Titles due to her partner's injuries. Naturally, that didn't well with Bianca, so Naomi stepped up and said she’d sub in for Jade in the interim. Aldis liked that idea, then said he’d run it by WWE management before getting back to them.

Honestly? This is way better than the titles being vacated. Those Women’s Tag belts need some consistency, and if this angle leads to Naomi turning heel as part of some masterplan then even better. Credit where it's due; Triple H has become really adept at lacing shows with this kind of quick storytelling. Segments that don't take much time to get right to the point but motor things along = one big fat thumbs up.

There's been a lot of chat about Cargill's immediate future in WWE due to those aforementioned injury struggles. It's surely coincidence, but Jade was also talking openly about the gruelling company schedule shortly before being written off TV too. All of this, reality and storyline, can be pulled together under one umbrella for Naomi's villain era.

That's pretty necessary, truth be told. She, like Bayley, has been up and down as a baby lately. Turning to the dark side and showing off a mean streak for the first time in years would be great for Naomi. Bonus points if it's prompted by loyalty to Bayley, who hasn't exactly seen eye to eye with Bianca.

Finally, Naomi showed zero concern for her husband Jimmy taking a kicking from Drew McIntyre whilst on crutches mere minutes before. None at all. That was either a terrible oversight or a subtly genius show of selfishness from someone who's about to do a lot of that.