4 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Feb 11)

WWE ridicules Cesaro; Ronda Rousey drops down a level; Roman Reigns buries WrestleMania?!

Naomi Charlotte Flair
WWE.com

WWE taped two weeks worth of SmackDown content on Friday night.

The company will jet off to Saudi Arabia next weekend, so they wanted to get another two hours of telly in the can. Sadly, that meant New Orleans' masses had to sit through some bogus filler during the marathon tapings - everybody should be used to that though, because SmackDown hasn't exactly been appointment television lately.

There was a real lack of creativity surrounding some of the segments on FOX's latest. The SmackDown Tag-Team Title feud, for starters, has been buried beneath lame writing. Oh yes, this is as side quest as WWE storylines can get, and it's doing nothing for The Usos or their current challengers.

On the women's side, Ronda Rousey is now being asked to leech on a story that just won't end, and even the normally-flawless Roman Reigns/Paul Heyman combo dropped into the 'Downs' section this time. That...was unexpected.

Major positives came by way of Bill Goldberg (somewhat surprisingly), a fun closing stretch for the main event and some epic tag wrestling on the undercard. None of that could save this from being another SmackDown that ranged from dire-mediocre though.

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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.