1. Intercontinental Title Once Again Acts As Focal Point
Roman Reigns did not appear on the latest episode of Smackdown, which means the WWE World Heavyweight Championship was also posted missing. Thankfully, just as he has done more often than not recently on the show, Dean Ambrose and the WWE Intercontinental Title appeared to help motor things along. Smackdown seems to be the Intercontinental Title show these days, which shouldn't be considered a bad thing for anyone enjoying the ongoing rivalry. Kevin Owens is brilliant heel foil for the dangerous everyman persona of Dean Ambrose, and the latter challenged Owens to a 'Last Man Standing' Match for the Royal Rumble. The villain accepted, and just like that the Rumble finally had another big marquee bout. It would have been easy for WWE to announce this on Monday Night Raw, but it was smart to line it up on Smackdown. The Thursday night show needs more announcements such as this to really make it seem valuable. The lack of WWE Championship presence does hurt proceedings on occasion, but Ambrose and Owens proved this week that they can more than pick up the slack. What other 'ups' and 'downs' did you take from the latest episode of WWE Smackdown? What did you make of the show overall? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments section below!
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.
