6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (13 Feb - Results & Review)

Ups...

6. 10-Man Tag Works

Carmelo Hayes Tama Tonga
WWE.com

Solo Sikoa and his MFTs vs. Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov, Shinsuke Nakamura, Matt Cardona and Apollo Crews kept things busy and made the MFT crew look good. You've got to like the continued rise of Tama Tonga, and him pinning Carmelo feels big for the dude. This could well lead to a crack at the United States Title for Tama, which would be a significant improvement for him.

Matches like this one are really what guys like Cardona, Crews and Shinsuke should be used for nowadays. Taking a rain check on that US Title bout between Hayes and Ilja wasn’t the worst idea either, because giving those ‘Open Challenge’ bits a break works. Also, Dragunov just wants to fight, so he was never going to turn his nose up at the chance to do just that once the MFT crew attacked.

Fans know what they're gonna get from these kinds of matches, especially once it starts breaking down and racing towards the end, but the brawl was never less than entertaining. Again, it did put Tama in the frame for singles gold, and that double whammy grabbed the match an ‘Up’. No-one will be blown away watching this, no. However, not every single wrestling match ever needs to be some star-hungry spot fest.

Nick Aldis coming out to announce the 10-man tag gave all of these workers something to do on SmackDown, and then they delivered. Best of all, pretty much everyone who matters got some licks in, and now Tonga is up there with Hayes, Ilja and even other United States Title hopefuls like The Miz.

Good work, lads.

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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.