4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (6 Feb - Results & Review)

Drew McIntyre threatened to shove those "lemon pepper steppers" that Trick Williams wears right up the SmackDown newbie's hole on Friday night. Nia Jax would be proud. Seriously though, the current WWE Champion has a big ol' target on his back heading into WrestleMania 42, and that's the way it should be. Cody Rhodes, Jacob Fatu, Randy Orton, Trick and more are all gunning for him.

That was a theme on this week's episode of blue brand telly, but WWE fumbled a big opportunity elsewhere. On Monday's Raw, women's Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan vowed to be on SmackDown and size up who she'd be challenging come 'Mania. Her appearance proved to be a complete waste of time, which is something one can say for these post-Rumble segments far too often - that fiery standoff between CM Punk and Roman Reigns on the flagship should've taught creative a lesson!

There was some good in-ring action to report on, at least. A Women's Tag-Team Title match soared higher than anything else on the show, another Triple Threat worked a treat and welcomed somebody important back into the mix with a momentum-boosting win, and a delectable squash brilliantly teased what's to come from an ex-tag teamer who deserves a bit more camera time going forwards.

All in all, this was a watchable edition, but some of the laziest Triple H booking tropes were out in full force to hold things back slightly. That, rather unfortunately, will presumably be the way of it heading through Elimination Chamber at the end of the month.