4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Jan 8)

3. “Pulled Some Strings”

Roman Reigns Paul Heyman Jey Uso Adam Pearce Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

According to Paul Heyman, it was easy peasy to go above Adam Pearce's head and ensure that SmackDown's leading authority figure took part in the main event Gauntlet match. Huh? Who did Heyman talk to? Vince McMahon, presumably, but WWE never made that clear.

Those sorts of details are just pesky incidentals, it seems. That's the problem with booking Pearce as the tangible decision-maker on Friday nights; he's sort of in charge, but not really. Oh, but he is when it's convenient. That kind of sh*t is messy and makes a mockery of the product.

Pearce should not be powerless against Heyman.

Roman Reigns' 'Special Council' shouldn't be able to "pull some strings" at the expense of the guy who is supposedly running the show. That doesn't make any sense, and it dumps all over Pearce's credibility going forwards.

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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.