5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Aug 12)

1. Bootleg Baszler

Liv Morgan Shayna Baszler
WWE.com

Final gripe of the week.

Sure, Liv Morgan has to say something about Shayna Baszler, but calling her a "bootleg Ronda Rousey" is probably not the way to go. Being fair, maybe that would've been a lesser evil had WWE not tag-teamed it with Ronda herself criticising Baszler despite Shayna being number one contender.

To top it all off, Liv got the last laugh by planting Baszler through a table during their contract signing. Meanwhile, fans in the stands chanted "YOU TAPPED OUT" relentlessly at Morgan. To quote well-known philosopher Scooby Doo - "R'uh r'oh".

WWE has to be very careful with all of this. Morgan is already on the proverbial shoogly nail as a champion babyface, and they surely don't want to make Shayna look like some cheap knock-off of the woman she beat. That's not how to sell a big pay-per-view bout, basically.

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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.