7 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's SmackDown (Apr 10)
Downs...
2. A Cure For Insomnia
The United States Title scene continues to be WWE's dullest division. 'Mania's four-way wasn't bad, but it was one of the least interesting things on an eventful night, and delivered an uninspiring victor. After months of blasé storytelling, professional interest-killer Jinder Mahal now has the strap, and he learned his new number one contender last night, with his three WrestleMania opponents doing battle.
It was Rusev vs. Randy Orton vs. Bobby Roode, and while solid, the bout was entirely skippable. It'd likely squeeze under the Ups header if not for the group's general malaise, but we can't ignore such things.
This is the division where creativity goes to die. Instead of freshening the scene up, WWE produced only a slight variation on the WrestleMania match, and with 'The Viper' winner, we now have another tedious Orton vs. Mahal bout in our future. Remember their godawful 2017 pay-per-view contests? They're back, baby, and there's nothing we can do about it.
When it comes to this division, the fast-forward button is your friend.