4 Ups And 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (March 7)

1. A Botched Blissertation

She still has room for improvement in the ring, but Alexa Bliss hasn't missed a beat on the microphone since her NXT call-up last July. Her character work is outstanding, and she's already one of the best talkers on SmackDown. As such, viewers have come to expect nothing but excellence whenever she gets on the microphone, but last night's Blissertation was a rare misstep.

It was probably the script-writer's fault rather than her own, but nobody was buying what Alexa was selling on SmackDown. Her lame insults for Naomi, Nikki Bella, Becky Lynch, and Carmella reduced the crowd to a disinterested silence, and things somehow got even worse when Natalya ("the worst there is, the worst there was, and the worst there ever will be," apparently) and Lynch hit the ring.

Mickie James eventually spoke up and challenged Bliss to a title match at WrestleMania, so Nattie chimed-in and called her ugly. The bickering continued until Daniel Bryan came out and brought the segment to a merciful end by channelling his inner Teddy Long and announcing a tag team match, but the whole segment stunk.

It was an unwanted flashback to the bad old days when WWE's women barely communicatied like human beings, and their interactions were restricted to petty schoolyard "burns." SmackDown's writers would be wise to note the negative crowd reaction and never book another segment like this again.