5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Jan 7)

Downs...

6. Sami Zayn Slips

WWE tends to do this, don't they?

They set someone up as a champion or challenger and then think it's OK to have them slip on proverbial banana peels for a while. Sure, Sami Zayn is good enough to cope with that sort of thing, but he shouldn't be jobbing to Rick Boogs before wrestling Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Title.

He just shouldn't. It's brainless to think that the best way to sell that title bout to fans is to have Shin's guitar-playing lackey (a powerful one or not) rag doll Zayn around the ring for almost 10 full minutes. This was a step backwards for Sami, and one he certainly didn't need to take.

Boogs has a future, and his power moves do land with a nice thump, but he's not in Zayn's league right now. This should've been Sami's chance to cheat (because he can) and then point over at a scowling Nakamura. They've got a title match to build, for Christ's sake.