4 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE SmackDown (May 29)

2. The Use Of Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle Matt Riddle
WWE

Kurt Angle's buggy, intense stare was chosen as the ideal way to introduce Matt Riddle to the SmackDown audience watching on FOX. That's smart for a few reasons.

First, Angle carries weight as a legend with most casual WWE fans. Second, the Olympian was special guest referee for Riddle's final NXT match against Timothy Thatcher on Wednesday night. Thirdly, the way the production team spliced Kurt's comments in with footage of Riddle was really classy.

This was way more effective than some squash match would've been. There's time for that over the next few weeks - for now, hearing Angle big up Riddle as SmackDown's next breakout star is awesome. Yours truly wouldn't even complain if Kurt was brought in as a manager for the first few months of the former UFC man's run on the brand.

Inoffensive cameos that serve the purpose of getting fresh talent over are the best kind of cameos. Credit must be given to WWE for recognising the value of Angle here, and Kurt deserves praise himself for doing everything to put over Riddle.

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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.