7 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown: Happy New Year (Dec 30)

1. Will WWE Ever Learn?

Charlotte has been very open and honest about her distaste for playing babyface in WWE. She's even gone so far as to claim she'd do whatever it took to remain heel upon her return. Yeah, so much for that eh? Creative want to try on Flair as a valiant hero one more time.

This could be a mistake.

Michael Cole's grandiose commentary almost reached parody levels as he crowed about how happy WWE's fanbase was to see Charlotte. Yes, for now. Such reactions seem to taper off in modern wrestling unless there's an organic kinship between wrestler and audience, and it shouldn't be long until Flair's natural zest for playing the silver spoon type has folks jeering her promos.

This could be one of Triple H's biggest challenges of 2023, to be honest. He has a job on his hands to make Charlotte work as a baby when she's consistently failed in that role several times now. Everything about this return and title change felt forced, and that's worrying.