4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (24 Jan - Results & Review)

Who had Kevin Owens getting right in actor Matthew McConaughey's face on their SmackDown bingo cards? That's what happened during Friday's show, but the verbal spat was set dressing to make KO look like even more of a dirtbag. Joe Tessitore perhaps said it best when he opined that Owens could start an argument in an empty room right now - he's in borderline Sami Zayn conspiracy mode these days.

It's all good stuff, but the same can't be said for this week's blue brand offering from top to bottom. There will be teething problems as WWE figures out how to produce regular three hour bangers on SmackDown, being fair. This crept into skippable territory at points, especially when the company blatantly stalled to fill time by booking several segments that achieved practically nothing.

Fans want to see forward momentum during this portion of the year. It's Rumble season, soon to be WrestleMania season, and that means anything feeling less-than will quickly fall by the wayside. At times, it was like the creative team suddenly realised they hadn't paid attention to the women's Rumble match at all and had to scramble. They've just launched yet another mini-push that'll play before diminishing returns too.

Several matches upped the ante, at least. Damian Priest's arrival on Fridays breathes fresh life into things, the main event was a good watch, and it was heartening to see Tama Tonga get some valuable minutes to show what he's capable of away from tags. Those three bouts are probs the only ones you need to pay attention to from the show.

Here's all the good and bad pre-Saturday Night's Main event!