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

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Slow-Burning Goodness

Sheamus Butch Brawling Brutes The Usos
WWE.com

Naturally, the opening tag would've been better with Drew McIntyre there as Sheamus' partner. WWE couldn't do anything about that though, and they picked the right replacement in retrospect - Butch did an admirable job of stepping in and stepping up for this Brawling Brutes title tilt.

The match started slow, but that was a positive. It was very-much a slow-burning epic, and doubled as both a top wrestling match and as a great excuse to push Sami Zayn's importance to The Bloodline cause again. No arguments here for that. It was the right way to go about things.

Now, Sami can look forward to "a big night" on next week's show.

If you're going to book filler bouts/segments, then at least make them entertaining to watch. Sheamus and Butch vs. Jimmy and Jey was definitely that. It was house show-esque without coming across as totally pointless (again, the Zayn interference has to take some kudos for that), and the 20-minute length raced past.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more content like this, check out ROH Final Battle 2022: 10 Things That Must Happen and 10 WWE Wrestlers Triple H SAVED In 2022!

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Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.