6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Sept 23)

1. Same Old Women’s Tag Scene

Raquel Rodriguez Dakota Kai
WWE.com

The Women's Tag Title scene is in worse shape though.

WWE haven't bothered trying to explain why Shotzi is suddenly babyface again, or why she's teaming with Raquel Rodriguez. Does she hate Damage CTRL? Does she want to wrestle Bayley one-on-one? Did Raquel give her a lift to the arena one week and she's never forgotten it? Who knows?!

Wrestling booking often paints in such broad strokes that it forgets the smaller ones matter too. Fans absolutely will not give a toss about Shotzi and Raquel going after Dakota Kai and IYO SKY if WWE neglects any and all context for the situation. That's just...logic.

Giving Rodriguez and Kai a little over 90 seconds of ring time is criminal too. They deserved way more than that, and if it wasn't available then WWE shouldn't have bothered booking this in the first place. Yeah, it would've been better to have Shotzi explain herself properly instead.

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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.