4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (April 15)

Charlotte Flair destroys Drew Gulak; WWE unifies more titles; SmackDown tag-teams tease a split.

RK-Bro Riddle Randy Orton
WWE.com

RK-Bro lads Randy Orton and Riddle returned the favour by appearing on The Usos' turf.

Jimmy and Jey invaded Raw, so it was only fair that their WrestleMania Backlash opponents did the same come SmackDown. That was fine - the complete absence of Bloodline leader Roman Reigns was not. Nobody's suggesting that Reigns needs to dominate TV every week, but WWE literally just launched his next program last Friday.

He should've been on the show in some capacity to further it. Failing that, the promotion could've lined up some promo time (even pre-taped if they were worried about quality) for Shinsuke Nakamura. The fact they didn't shows just how unimportant this Undisputed WWE Universal Title bout will be on 8 May. If it even happens.

This was as milk toast an episode as you're likely to see. WWE's writers phoned in most of the segments, and there was an annoying lack of attention to detail in some of these quarter hours. On the plus side, the roster is good enough in-ring that poor booking rarely holds them back when they're given time.

Here's all the good and the bad.

Advertisement
Contributor

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.