6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Oct 1)

Ups...

6. Fresh Faces

Hit Row WWE SmackDown
WWE.com

Think of this as a counterpoint to the Draft whine earlier.

WWE did make some bold choices during the first half of the brand shake-up. Charlotte Flair coming to Fridays means her feud with Becky Lynch gets a new chapter, Drew McIntyre will be a fine challenger for Roman Reigns, and Hit Row feel like something totally fresh after bursting onto the scene in NXT.

Jeff Hardy and New Day's Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods coming over is a bit meh by comparison, but they're hardly poor workers. Jeff is pretty much legendary enhancement talent at this stage in his career, and you know the Kofi/Woods combo will have great matches with everyone in the tag division.

SmackDown badly needed another top babyface (McIntyre) and some new tags anyway. Hit Row are worth keeping an eye on; if WWE don't get bored and break them up, then they could become one of the best factions in modern wrestling.

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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.