6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (June 16)

2. Not Sure This Was Smart

LA Knight Santos Escobar
WWE.com

WWE crowds have embraced LA Knight, but he reverted to smart-arsed jock heel on SmackDown. That's fine depending who he's wrestling, but having him opposite Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar was a puzzling decision from the writers. Seriously, who thought this was a solid plan?!

Rey is a beloved legend, and Santos is a rising babyface himself. The shorter length wasn't a huge problem either, but SmackDown could really do with moving away from blink-and-you'll-miss-it matches generally. That's especially true when they appear counterproductive or at odds with recent booking.

LA played heel here like he had to plug a hole on some house show.

Triple H must want people to rally behind Escobar too. Look at the screenshot above for proof of that: Santos is asking for support so he can escape Knight's submission. The presentation of both workers was all over the place, sadly.

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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.