5 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Jan 30)

2. Charlotte & Ruby Fall Flat

This week's SmackDown was full of a decent ideas executed poorly, with Charlotte Flair's mid-show promo particularly notable in this regard.

'The Queen' hit the ring to talk about the Royal Rumble, Ronda Rousey's debut, and defending her SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania. This drew The Riott Squad out from the back, and with Ruby doing the talking, the trio took over.

Riott said that Charlotte was an egomaniac like her father, and while she showed conviction on the microphone, none of it got over. Sadly, Ruby's words couldn't sway an indifferent crowd. She's a fresh new opponent for the champ, but her Squad has been booked so weakly that it's hard to take her seriously, and this manifested in the cricket chirps that met the confrontation.

It didn't take long for things to get physical. The brawl started when Charlotte wooo'd in Riott's face, and while Flair was quick to fight the group off, their numerical advantage soon took hold, and they beat her down. Again, putting this heat on the Squad was a nice idea, but it didn't get over at all. Perhaps this was primarily down to the exhausted Philly crowd, who were enduring their fourth consecutive WWE show, but the on-mic performances did nothing to break their slumber.