7 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Aug 28)
Downs...
2. Another Sloppy Victory
It's great that The IIconics are finally picking up victories, and their recent form breeds hope that WWE do actually see them as more than an enhancement duo, but last night's Billie Kay vs. Naomi was, fundamentally, not good.
They only had two minutes, but still managed to squeeze in a couple of noticeable mistakes. The hair-pull spot was another unwanted throwback to the Divas era. Kay's takedowns were weak, her ground and pound pillow-fisted, and the kickout that sent Naomi to the ropes for Peyton Royce's match-winning interference was sloppy to the point of destroying any remaining immersion.
Matches of this calibre shouldn't happen in 2018, when WWE's company-wide working standard is so high. There's no real excuse for it. Nobody expects five stars from two preliminary wrestlers with a 120-second runtime, but a basic level of cohesion and fluidity should be present in every performer who makes it to WWE television, particularly on the main roster. Unfortunately, Kay vs. Naomi fell short of that low bar.