4 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (28 Aug - Results & Review)

2. It’s Been Downhill Since The Promo

Chelsea Green’s promo with Nick Aldis a few weeks back on the 14 August episode was tremendous content and character work, but WWE’s creative for the interim Women's Champ has been rotten ever since. This week, she and Tiffany Stratton lost a subpar tag-team match to Nia Jax and Lash Legend. Green’s orbital bone injury was the big story, but her bid to show serious heart backfired when Jax laid her out with a tame-looking squash finish.

At times, everyone here felt like they were moving through mud, and the whole deal with Green has been messy. She’s either cleared to compete or she isn’t - they can’t have it both ways. That promo with Aldis should’ve been a springboard for Chelsea, but she’s still coming across as someone seriously out of her depth and is already back wrestling in nothing matches. Plus, there isn’t much to look forward to with Nia challenging in the near future.

If their work here was anything to go by, then that could be a stinker of a title match that does Green zero favours. She'll always be fighting against the 'utility player, not the star' tag, which is expected, but...give her a chance at least. WWE's writing has been all over the place since she earned rapturous applause for standing up to Aldis threatening to strip the title from her.

The nightmare outcome to this whole scenario is that Jax unthinkably wins the title just so Rhea Ripley has a heel to beat when she returns. Please say it ain't so.