4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (19 Dec - Results & Review)

2. Giulia Is Really Struggling

It’s crazy to think that Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer were equals on NXT. Their respective main roster jumps changed all of that. Now, Giulia feels totally unimportant, and fans just don’t really care about anything she's doing. WWE clearly want to have her do the babyface thing vs. Chelsea Green, which is why she dominated Alba Fyre here, but it isn’t clicking already.

The crowd were borderline silent for all of this. Sure, they were sitting through a marathon taping, but that wouldn't stop people from making some noise if they wanted to. Green is way more dynamic and exciting than Giulia - there's no getting away from that. Yeah, you've got to be worried for the latter. Some matches maximise their minutes despite being short. As it is, it’s a sneaky blessing that this didn’t go long, but it’d be a lie to say it was impactful.

Casting Giulia and Kiana James as default faces is bold. They've been outright heels since coming together as a package, and nothing has happened to merit a change of heart or alignment. Were people telling the truth when they said that AI was booking some of these characters?! It's almost like ChatGPT has run amok over the format sheets in the SmackDown midcard, and nobody is editing them.

At this point, sending Giulia back to NXT wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. She hasn't translated well to the main roster, and there's no sign that things are going to get better on that front. Cue awkward glances all round if Chelsea is cheered during the Women's United States Title match.

WWE would only have themselves to blame.