5 Ups And 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (March 31)

SmackDown was a real struggle this week, and that hasn't been the case at all for the program over the past few months. It's somewhat understandable that WWE would gloss over the Thursday night broadcast this time around, WrestleMania 32 is imminent after all. That doesn't excuse the incredibly threadbare nature of the show, one which failed to elicit much excitement from the live crowd whatsoever. There were positives, even the most pedestrian of WWE shows can have an upside or two. Overall however, there was a feeling that the promotion were already looking beyond SmackDown, instead of using it to further build towards the main matches people will see at 'Mania. It's safe to say the program wasn't exactly horrible, but there was next to nothing which could accurately be dubbed essential. And yet, there were enjoyable sections of SmackDown. Only a trio of matches were featured; AJ Styles vs. Heath Slater, Jey Uso vs. D-Von Dudley and Dean Ambrose vs. Erick Rowan were all on offer, and there were good points involved in each. WWE need to ensure that next week's SmackDown is a bit more lively, because shows like this are unlikely to pop ratings or appease those at the USA Network.

Downs..

3. Far Too Many Recaps

The first problem actually dominated most of the show, and it wasn't even fresh content. WWE will present WrestleMania 32 this Sunday, but by now the event should be selling itself. SmackDown should leave things on a cliffhanger, not be a near 2-hour long infomercial for the upcoming pay-per-view. At times, that's what the show felt like. Pretty much every major match upcoming at 'Mania was given the video package treatment, and both Renee Young and Byron Saxton were 'live' from the AT&T Stadium. There was something unnecessary about recapping absolutely everything leading up to this point, isn't that what Sunday's Kickoff show is for? Topping things off, WWE even elected to re-air a lot of footage from Monday Night Raw, including Jonathan Coachman's little dance routine with The New Day. This didn't help SmackDown feel like essential programming at all, it harked back to those dark days pre-January when the company didn't take the Thursday evening broadcast seriously.