6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Feb 5)

2. Getting Old

Edge WWE SmackDown
WWE.com

Speaking of tedious.

Look, everyone loves Edge. His return last year, feud with Randy Orton and Rumble win last week are all modern-day industry highlights that everyone can point to as feel-good fare. Still, it was hardly necessary to whisk him around on a whistle-stop tour of Raw, NXT and SmackDown between Monday-Friday.

The 'Rated-R Superstar' effectively cut the same promo on all three shows, then had similar interactions with the champs on those respective brands too. Sure, it'll be worth it when he finally plumps for Roman Reigns and starts craving a Universal Title he's never held, but yes - this was bland until Reigns showed up.

WWE put Edge in a tough spot here. He was in the same building as Raw using the same material, and it cannot have been easy to freshen things up. This is totally on creative. They needed to drop NXT from the lineup so this didn't get old.

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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.