5 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (April 4)
Brace yourselves, SmackDown: there's a new King in town.
WWE's post-WrestleMania shows are always among the year's most enjoyable, and while this week's SmackDown wasn't quite on par with Raw's fantastic offering, it didn't disappoint. Last night was bags of fun, and set SD up for next week's Superstar Shake-up by continuing a number of threads from WrestleMania, and delivering a couple of blockbuster debuts.
Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton book-ended the show, continuing their longstanding feud with the kind of shenanigans and misdirection that have come to characterise it. Elsewhere, there was a Mania rematch in Baron Corbin vs. Dean Ambrose and a Women's Title bout between Naomi and Alexa Bliss, but John Cena and Nikki Bella were completely absent, along with the entire tag division.
The night's debuts were the real talking point, however, and assuming they survive the oncoming Shake-up, both look set to play major roles on SmackDown. With AJ Styles reaffirming his desire to stay on the brand later in the show, SD are heading towards next week's uncertainty in an undeniably strong position, and while they may lose an asset or two, the roster finally looks deep enough to survive.
Two thoroughly entertaining hours of action, but what hit the mark, and what fell short?