5 Ups And 1 Down From Last Night's WWE Talking Smack (Jan 24)
A guy from Atlanta, a girl from the old days & a dad with an iPhone.
Back again to digest the last fallout from Smackdown Live before the Royal Rumble, Renee Young and Shane McMahon picked up the pieces from another week with a major title match, huge shots fired across the bow over the WWE Title, and even more controversies in the expanding Women's division.
With Raw Rumble Match competitors dominating conversation in the final lead up to San Antonio, it was the opportunity for the Smackdown roster to steal some headlines before the Road to Wrestlemania begins in ernest this Sunday.
Ahead of one of the most exciting shows WWE will present all year, here's a look at the Ups and Downs from this week's edition of Talking Smack.
6. Down - Shane And AJ?
Layered within his blistering final address on John Cena (more on that later), the continued resentment from WWE Champion AJ Styles towards the Smackdown Live authority figures was more pronounced this week as he sat alongside co-host and show commissioner Shane McMahon.
From the moment Styles greeted the 'Boy Wonder' with a limp and dismissive handshake, it was apparent that the show's authorities were as much the subject of his vitriol as the leader of the Cenation.
Twice bickering during the intended placidities of a go-home interview with the WWE Champion, Shane bit back at accusations of bias on the brand, and as Styles stormed off the set to bring the show to a close, Renee posited that the pressure of this Sunday's blockbuster AND the possibility of the McMahon-booked Elimination Chamber may be resting too heavily on his shoulders.
Shane largely played down any significant problems in the same way he has during similar in-ring petulance, but the seeds finally appeared sown for an AJ Styles vs Shane McMahon Wrestlemania match.
Though all plans can always change, Styles' task of carrying an increasingly-less-able 'Shane-O-Mac' on 'the show of shows' doesn't feel like it fits WWE's narrative of Wrestlemania being that great stage you spend every year working towards.