7 Problems Plaguing WWE SmackDown Right Now

Here’s a quick complaint: SmackDown, go easy on the tag matches, playa.

For the record: tag matches on weekly television are a fine trope that can intersect different feuds and have action without wasting a PPV match. However, SmackDown’s format of “open with a promo, have various rivals run in and create chaos, tag team match in the main event” has gotten ridiculously played-out. Most recently, AJ Styles opened the show as the new US Champion, and declared he would restart John Cena’s US Open Challenge. Sure enough, Cena came out to accept the challenge, and it looked like fans would actually get a Cena-Styles match on SmackDown.

Unfortunately, formula won the day, as Kevin Owens and Rusev (AJ and Cena’s respective foes) came in and forced a tag match for the main event. Rather than genuinely surprise its fans with what would have been a barnstormer TV match, SmackDown instead played it safe and cheated their fans out of something special. If SmackDown wants to stay on the creative edge, it needs to find more inventive ways to entertain in the last half-hour than with yet another tag match.