6 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (May 13)

1. A Star-Enhancing Match

Christ, this was excellent.

Raquel Rodriguez answered Ronda Rousey's "Open Challenge" gimmick with a smile, then got serious and pasted the new SmackDown Women's Champion for a good five minutes. That was unexpected, largely because newbies typically get slaughtered after a few weeks on the top brands.

Who knows what they have planned for Ronda next, but this acted as a nifty little distraction that killed a week's TV whilst simultaneously building up a fresh star. WWE don't book this sort of thing enough, so hopefully the creative team were taking notes on fan reactions and critical response to Raquel's first big opportunity.

The former NXT Women's Champ looked like a million bucks in there vs. Rousey. Credit must go to Ronda for agreeing to look so surprised too - she'll need that kind of vulnerability if she's going to fly as the leader of SmackDown's female ranks.

Seriously, give this match a watch.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling, check out 10 Precise Moments When WCW Careers Ended and 10 New Directions For WWE After WrestleMania Backlash 2022!