4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (20 Sept - Results & Review)

2. Giovanni Vinci Looks Daft Again

Giovanni Vinci Shocked
WWE.com

Honestly, this fan has zero clue what Triple H is playing at with Giovanni Vinci. He debuted after a few hype vignettes and lost to Apollo Crews in seconds a while back. Here, Vinci slipped on the proverbial banana peel once more. This was his second loss to Crews, and no-one is quite sure what the plan is supposed to be with him.

This is all very latter-day Vince McMahon.

Apollo was meant to be building a babyface tag-team with Baron Corbin, and yet here he is stuffed awkwardly into a 'B' story vs. Giovanni. It's a puzzling way to reintroduce Vinci and try to repackage him as a singles star away from Imperium. Let's be honest here: This will not work. Gio already feels dead in the water on SmackDown.

The losing streak trope has been an overused WWE go to when heels need humbled. That's one thing. This isn't that! Vinci hasn't even kicked off his singles career on Fridays and he's already looking like a total chump who couldn't win even if they brought back Gillberg.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.