4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Oct 22)

Brock Lesnar goes too far; SmackDown debuts reap mixed rewards; WWE's ending sucks.

by Jamie Kennedy
Brock Lesnar Roman Reigns

WWE were keen to hammer home that the "new era of SmackDown" arrived on Friday night.

Fresh blood debuted, some familiar faces from Raw made an impact and a part-time attraction bowed out (at least for now). There's a massive problem with this "new era" claim every year though: WWE position the Draft right before Survivor Series, which sucks when that pay-per-view relies on brand vs. brand warfare.

So, in other words, the writing team are left scrambling to try and match up ill-fitting pieces. Suddenly, fans are told, workers who previously crowed about one brand are now loyal to another. That never makes sense, but it's just something everyone must deal with 'cause...it's October/November and Survivors is on the horizon.

This week's SmackDown suffered from that. On the plus side, WWE produced one of the hottest opening angles in recent memory, and creative did do a good job when introducing the show's next hot faction. It was nice to see the E keep things simple for the most part, but they really struggled with the inter-brand stuff.

Like, really struggled...

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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.