6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (14 June - Results & Review)

4. Quick One-Two Punch

Carmelo Hayes
WWE.com

Pre-taped skits are always 50/50 in front of live crowds. Asking people to sit and pay attention to something on the big screens is bold, especially when skits involve major stars who blatantly aren't even in the country. That's what WWE pulled with LA Knight and Logan Paul on SmackDown, but it somehow worked out.

LA invaded Logan's home/pool over in Puerto Rico once Paul returned from a Tetris tournament (that's a real sentence), and Knight invited the celeb to bring his United States Title to TV next week. No prizes for guessing where this is going, eh? Again though, it's what the core fanbase wants long term.

The company followed up on that pre-tape with an in-person Carmelo Hayes promo ridiculing LA's lines and announcing that Melo will be in a Money In The Bank qualifier soon. This was all unbelievably slick. WWE successfully sidestepped any booing once people realised Knight wouldn't be in the house, then "Him" got some boos.

Good work.

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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.