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

1. Will WWE Ever Learn?

Charlotte Flair WWE SmackDown Women's Title 2022
WWE.com

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.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.