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

1. Liv Morgan’s Wasted Appearance

Oh dear.

Liv Morgan appeared on SmackDown to initially talk about which champion she’ll choose for WrestleMania 42: Jade Cargill or Stephanie Vaquer. No, the writers didn’t even follow up on Morgan eliminating Raquel Rodriguez during the Royal Rumble, because Jade came out to interrupt. Honestly, creative couldn’t have picked a bigger waste of time for Liv than this.

Her nothing speech turned into a nothing tag-team match with Raquel vs. Cargill and Jordynne Grace. Someone behind the scenes with influence needs to tell WWE that these ‘who will they choose?!’ post-Rumble segments are lifeless. Roman Reigns and CM Punk proved what’s possible with a bit of inspired thought on Raw, but Liv didn’t feel like a big star here at all.

Further, teaming Jade and Jordynne was lazy. How many times is this company gonna run with the same 'strange bedfellows' plot involving a champion and his/her challenger? It's madness, especially when it's never actually been all that compelling in the first place - and that stretches back decades.

Undoubtedly the biggest problem with this segment-into-match was Morgan's lacklustre appearance. She clearly wasn't on SmackDown for any real reason (she can't scout Jade from afar?), and everyone knows she's going to end up choosing the belt over on Raw anyway.

Haphazardly having Rodriguez remember to care about the fact her Judgment Day pal eliminated her from the Rumble is crap too. One minute, she doesn't give a damn. The next, she's staring a hole right through Liv. Some consistency wouldn't go amiss. Not one second of this proved consistent or made Morgan's Rumble victory mean a thing.