7 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Nov 27)

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Intra-Brand B*llocks Is Over

Roman Reigns Jey Uso
WWE.com

It was hard not to be slapped in the face by a refreshing sense of purpose on the latest SmackDown.

At least for now, WWE have decided to move on from the cross-promotional Raw vs. SmackDown guff that's been weighing programming down all month. Nobody from the "other show" popped up under the guise of some "Brand-To-Brand Invitational". Nope, this was 100% SmackDown, and better for it.

WWE do a stunningly lame job of separating Raw and SmackDown, so this was nice to see. Full attention was given to the top stars fans can only see exclusively on Fridays (Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Sasha Banks, Bayley, Kevin Owens etc), and Raw was barely mentioned at all aside from a few short plugs.

If only they'd stick to this format. It makes each broadcast worth tuning in for, because fans then know they only have one chance to see their favourites each week. SmackDown did things properly by (thankfully) moving on from that intra-brand tedium.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling, check out 5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Nov 20) and WWE Survivor Series 2020: 40 Things You Probably Missed!

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Contributor

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.