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

Ups...

5. This Was More Like It

At least the match was a winner.

New Day and Ricochet vs. Imperium was a hot six-man tag that ticked a lot of WWE's booking boxes. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods have an NXT Tag Title match coming up, so it was wise to have them mention that then look strong in-ring. Similarly, Ricochet scoring the win for his squad made sense.

Tick, tick, tick! Even having the number one contender bag that pin on Ludwig Kaiser was logical in the context of GUNTHER's IC Title reign - Kaiser has been a bit of a perpetual letdown to the champ, and this was just the latest example. There will be consequences on the backend for repeated failures.

If this six-man proved anything, it's that New Day circa 2K22 are infinitely better when they're not goofing around making sex jokes. Kingston and Woods are still excellent workers when they dispense with the giggles and get serious during matches.