5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (6 March - Results & Review)

4. Physicality Is The Way To Go

Some fans tuning into SmackDown might be slightly bummed out that Rhea Ripley and Jade Cargill didn't reference their social media beef during a duelling promo. Whatever, that's probably a work anyway and could come back into the picture before we reach Vegas. The most important thing they had to achieve with this skit was making people want to see Rhea and Jade tear one another apart.

WWE laid the groundwork for that with twin mic drop moments.

Ripley and Cargill both laid out what they bring to the table physically. Jade bragging about her body worked, and so did Rhea pointing out that Cargill might be more “aesthetically pleasing” but isn’t as strong or robust as her, and she’ll prove that when it matters most. The segment didn't take up too much time and got straight to the point. Again, it didn’t drag the social media stuff into things, interestingly, but going down a ‘who’d get back up after taking the other’s best shot’ route is best for this rivalry.

It’s alpha female vs. alpha female, after all. Anyone taking a quick glance at this pair would know they're well-matched physically - you wouldn't even need to watch WWE television regularly to work out how smashing Rhea vs. Jade would look on the marquee. That presentation will do some of the heavy lifting before April, which the writing team must be grateful for.

Yours truly has spotted a few fans ripping this to shreds on socials, but that's unfair. There's plenty of time to flesh things out further before the actual match happens, and Ripley is a huge improvement over everything else Jade has been doing since becoming champ last year.