6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Sept 9)

2. Solo Sikoa Hangs

Instantly being programmed opposite a star the strength of Drew McIntyre shows huge faith from management in Solo Sikoa. It was also a big ask, because 90% of the audience watching likely had zero reference point for Sikoa unless they happened to be avid NXT 2.0 viewers.

Credit where credit's due: Solo managed to hang in there. Sure, McIntyre deserves a lot of praise for protecting/carrying him, but it takes two to tango and all that. Sikoa was willing to lay it in (which Drew clearly likes), and that made their main event rather captivating from beginning to end.

The fact that WWE shielded Sikoa from a clean pinfall loss, even to such a huge name, was promising as well. Hopes are high that Solo will prove to be a valuable addition to The Bloodline - he'll come into his own once Sami Zayn is eventually booted.

This was a good start.