6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Mar 18)
Brock Lesnar goes 'Stone Cold'; WWE tweaks WrestleMania matches; Ronda Rousey bumps big.
You know it's WrestleMania time when WWE wrecks some vehicles.
This week, Brock Lesnar did his best impression of 'Mania returnee Steve Austin by smashing up The Bloodline's motor. Your tolerance for these go-to stunts may vary, but there's no denying that the opening salvo of SmackDown was damn exciting. Also, everybody played their roles to a tee.
The program was bookended by solid work, being honest. Lesnar's 'Stone Cold' style pursuit of Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman and The Usos went down a treat, and so did Charlotte Flair's latest bid to escape a punishing arm bar from Ronda Rousey. This is how you put a submission hold over, people.
SmackDown was blighted by more crappy booking on the undercard though. WWE are blatantly throwing numbers at 'Mania in hopes it'll spruce up some lesser matches, and they're making last-minute attempts to salvage feuds that should've ceased a long time ago.
Finally, the show had one of the worst commentary lines of all the times. It made this writer shake his head and wonder what the f*ck has happened to pro wrestling; regardless, this week's SmackDown was an improvement on last.
Here's all the good and the bad.