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

2. Solo Sikoa Hangs

Drew McIntyre Solo Sikoa
WWE.com

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.

Advertisement
Contributor

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.