5 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Mar 13)

1. Killing The Crowd

With Women's Champion Charlotte Flair now completely preoccupied with Asuka, it's up to the rest of her division to feed on whatever scraps fall from the top table (a host of multi-person tags, presumably). This meant Carmella and Naomi tying up in the ring last night, and while we can safely say that both were among WWE's most improved performers last year, they wrestled a short, ugly match that killed the SmackDown crowd.

Offence and pacing were the bout's two biggest issues. The duo attacked each other with slaps and hair pulls, with Naomi showing only a few flashes of her signature athleticism, creating a contest that felt like the cripplingly basic Divas matches of old. This proceeded for a good few minutes, with the fans lulled into silence, and by the time Carmella cradled her opponent for the victory, few were paying attention.

The contest suggested that both women are still a long, long way from being able to carry a bout on their own. It'd be wrong to jump to too many conclusions on the basis of a single three-minute match, but this was an absolute clunker, and easily the worst thing on the show.