4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (April 21)

3. Liked All Of This

That vignette for Shinsuke Nakamura arguably feels like it's come years too late, but it was so well-produced. Better late than never, right? WWE plans to go down the submission route with Shin, and that's interesting after years of Kinshasa knee strikes dominating his attack game.

You can't argue with this kind of spirited hype package - WWE does these better than any company on the pro wrestling map. Y'know another thing they've become good at under Triple H? Excusing heel failure. Karrion Kross spotlighted how recent rivals have changed after wrestling him, for example.

How smart.

His promo was very Bray Wyatt-esque, but fans won't be mad at it. Kross' words went some way to covering for prior defeats, and then he vowed to make his mark on Nakamura long-term too. Fingers crossed these guys get the chance to impress, and Karrion maybe even scores a win or two along the way.