5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (30 Jan - Results & Review)

3. As Formulaic A Promo Train As You’ll See

WWE bloody well love a promo train to kick off shows. This isn't something unique to the Triple H/TKO era - Vince McMahon enjoyed kicking off episodes of Raw, SmackDown etc with a revolving door of workers clutching microphones who just so happened to have that little tyke in the production truck queuing up their music when they fancied interrupting.

It's one of those wrestling tropes people roll with. Cool, but at least make sure everyone holding a stick has something worthwhile to say. That defo wasn't the case on this week's SmackDown over in Saudi. Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, and The Vision all came out to talk about their plans for the Rumble. Yes, formulaic can be fine, but only Cody talking about going after CM Punk if he wins and Zayn putting forward his case for beating Drew McIntyre were of interest.

All that mouthy business did set up the 8-man main event, at least, but the whole thing was a little played out and on the lengthy side. It was super-obvious as soon as The Vision came out what was going to happen. No, no problems with the match being made, but it felt forced with Jey Uso and Vision coming out there especially.

Heyman should be cast as smarter than that considering he's so long in the tooth and has been around WWE's product since forever.

This is a small gripe, admittedly, but it's reflective of a broader bitch about SmackDown as a whole. Worse, Hunter and pals repeated this trick again shortly afterwards.