Not to be confused with next Thursday's Halloween Horror show, this six-man version of the Crown Jewel ten-man tag was a thoroughly enjoyable romp in keeping with the sharp upturn in quality this edition of SmackDown underwent during its second hour.
Roman Reigns remained the ring general of this most recent era of the blue brand, building on contests with Seth Rollins and Shinsuke Nakamura ruined by f*ck finishes with a bracing battle afforded finally afforded a clean one. So clean, in fact, that he offered it out to Ali.
That awkwardness aside, this was the sort of meat-and-potatoes main event WWE should be sure to feed audiences with regularly. The action's lowest bar was good, often graduating to great, whilst all six men had their strengths played to and weaknesses hidden by quick tags and intelligent structuring.
Amongst a slew of spotfest and cocaine "classics", some earnest in-ring action was a welcome way to cap off the wrestling week.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast.
He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.
