6 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Sept 11)

2. English Clears The Bar

The Bar Rusev Day
WWE.com

To the surprise of absolutely no one, SmackDown's tag teams once again produced the best match on the show, with The Bar and Rusev Day contesting the finals of the brand's contendership tournament.

The division's reliability is comforting. Every week, the tag teams come out and wrestle a fun, fluid, and fast-flowing bout with straightforward booking and little in the way of shenanigans. It doesn't matter who's involved: they're all equally capable of delivering something good-to-great with each other, and deserve props for it.

Once again, the story revolved around Aiden English's ongoing quest to prove himself to Rusev. 'The Shakespeare Of Song' was largely responsible for the victory, having thrown himself in front of Sheamus' Brogue Kick for his partner, allowing 'The Bulgarian Brute' to nail the Machka for the victory and contendership. On the eve of Hell In A Cell, their relationship looks stronger than ever.

Though the likeliest outcome is still a full Rusev Day split, this story is being handled extremely well, and coming away with the PPV victory will guarantee their popular union survives another few months.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.