5 Ups And 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE Talking Smack (Jan 31)

4. Up - Alpha Males

American Alpha
WWE

Crucially given a rebuttal having been inexplicably left off the entire Royal Rumble event, American Alpha were finally allowed to opine on the questionable booking that has seen them shoved firmly to the background of Smackdown Live despite holding the Tag Team Championships.

Thanking Bryan for his prior acknowledgement of their Rumble omission, the two expressed frustration as they issued a call to any and all challengers, mirroring their segment on the main show that saw a brawl breakout between most of the duos on the blue brand.

In response, Bryan advised the Champions that they'd defend their titles against five other units in a Tag Team Turmoil match at Elimination Chamber, and Gable and Jordan took hold of the situation as if to re-assert their authority over the chasing pack, with Gable implying he wanted them to enter the contest first.

Blowing off the obvious disadvantage that presents in a single-elimination match, Alpha looked vitally re-energised and determined to remind audiences exactly why they were the most exciting team the industry just twelve months ago.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.