4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Oct 9)

3. Build? Who Needs Build?

New Day
WWE.com

Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura have been solid-if-unspectacular SmackDown Tag-Team Champions since winning the belts from New Day back at Extreme Rules. That's not their fault really. WWE failed to give them a meaningful feud post-title win, and now they've lost the straps back to the same faction.

The same faction who just split up. Wait, why are Kofi and Xavier taking the SmackDown Tag belts over to Raw again? Whatever, because there's a bigger problem. This match had no build to speak of at all. It was announced suddenly, and that robbed both New Day and their fans of an emotional rollercoaster pre-title reclamation.

Cesaro and Shin also now look like absolute losers.

It would not have been hard to include a little drama here. Kingston and Woods should've been announced last week, and WWE should've at least tried to add some anticipation to New Day's comeback moment. Instead, they rushed through the return and brand switch/split.

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.