5 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (5 Sept - Results & Review)

AJ Lee looked positively delighted to be back on WWE TV for the first time in approx 10 years. A visibly proud and emotional CM Punk watched as the love of his life skipped back into view then ripped Becky Lynch's head off during a ridiculously hot closing segment that signed SmackDown off with a bang. The good news is that the opening promo-meets-match also scored high with fans in attendance.

WWE gave Chicago's wrestling-daft masses plenty to cheer about on Friday.

Admittedly, the show sagged terribly in the middle, and everyone on the blue brand's creative team needs to have a serious sit-down conversation about the sheer state of the women's division. It's a mess. Neither top female champ is particularly interesting, and neither has much of anything worthwhile going on. Worse, there's a real dearth of credible challengers who could theoretically make the step up to go after their belts.

Back on the plus side, SmackDown boasted a fantastic throwback to 2015. Sami Zayn described it as "a full circle moment", and that'd just about sum it up. Together, he and John Cena gave the people precisely what they wanted, then WWE pulled the rug (in a good way) on everyone by wheeling out a 'Beast'.

SmackDown's ratings reportedly haven't been great lately, to say the least, but there's enough about the show weekly to make it well worth checking out. This week, WWE loaded up on star power and fed an already-passionate Chicago crowd some memorable moments they'll cherish for a long, long time.

Here's all the yay and nay.