5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Dec 9)

2. One Step Forward & Two Steps Back

Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler are either this generation's female 'Two-Man Power Trip' (Steve Austin and Triple H) or they're not. WWE can't have it both ways. It's stupid to go from a potentially-shocking angle like Ronda/Shayna breaking Shotzi's hand to meekly surrendering in a four-minute match.

That's what happened on Friday.

Creative let Rousey and Baszler look like cold-hearted badasses one minute, then had them come up short in-ring against Liv Morgan and Tegan Nox. Is it cool that Nox got a win right after returning to WWE? Sure, but this 50/50 stuff never helps anybody in the long run.

This writer can't see a path out of the current booking quagmire for Ronda, sadly. Hopes were high that uniting with Shayna would be just the tonic she needed, but WWE never seems sure how to use her in-ring, or who works as a valid SmackDown Women's Title rival.