4 Ups And 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Feb 21)

Ups...

4. Sucks To Be You, Naomi

Naomi Vacates Title
WWE.com

Last night's SmackDown began on the sourest note imaginable for Naomi. Nine days after winning her first piece of WWE gold, the former Funkadactyl was forced to relinquish her title through injury. Having legitimately hurt her knee while wrestling Alexa Bliss at Elimination Chamber, Naomi was given no choice but to hand the SmackDown Women's Title back to Daniel Bryan, as she supposedly wouldn't have been able to defend it within the required 30-day window.

WWE obviously can't have injured wrestlers carrying championships around, but the justification felt a little odd, particularly as Becky Lynch went 30+ days without defending the belt last autumn. The fans were behind Naomi 100%, however, and she gained a great deal of sympathy through this unfortunate situation, which will only help her get over as a babyface.

Suddenly without a Women's Champion, Bryan reignited the Becky Lynch/Alexa Bliss feud by throwing them together with the title on the line. Bliss cut a typically smarmy and condescending promo on Naomi to ensure their bad blood survives through the now former champion's time away from television, rounding-off a practical segment that keeps the women's division rolling in the wake of Naomi's injury.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.