5 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (May 8)

2. Paige Here...

Paige SmackDown
WWE.com

Last night's show opened with General Manage Paige waxing lyrical on Backlash, with a strong focus on the AJ Styles/Shinsuke Nakamura double low blow finish, along with the evening's Money In The Bank qualifiers. An effective table-setting segment, but her pay-per-view appraisal was too distant from reality to be believable.

Paige called the show "a smashing success." Granted, she's not exactly going to come out and s*** all over it, but how is anyone supposed to buy what she's selling here?

While not quite the "worst pay-per-view ever" some have billed it (there were several worse shows in 2017 alone), Backlash was a shambles. Miz vs. Rollins was excellent, Styles vs. Nakamura had its moments, but the rest? Somewhere between "meh" and "trash." To present it as some kind of grand success is off, and the writers must consider their audience stupid if they expect them to suspend disbelief for such a narrative.

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Channel Manager

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.