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

4. Quick One-Two Punch

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.