7 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE Backstage (Nov 19)
1. Pay What Off?
WWE
Booker T's waffle is only as entertaining as the subject at hand, and he struggled to make lemonade from the lemon he was tossed during a largely indifferent 'Pay It Off' segment late in the show. Bless him for trying to get two minutes or so talking about Ali shining in the men's Survivor Series match, but the poor f*cker barely gets to do it on SmackDown as it is - what chance will he have with 14 other men to share the ring with.
It's of course within the show's remit and DNA to talk about and talk up as much as they can about the current product, but both WWE and Fox would be wise to try and load as much of the show up with only the very best of their working week - the presenters may be ex-wrestlers, but they can only sell so much for segments many fans haven't chosen to buy.
Paige even noted that she as getting "evils" before confirming that Bayley was the "right" choice to win at the Survivor Series because she was "Team SmackDown", despite noting that she loved Shayna Baszler and Becky Lynch "didn't need it".
It was telling that CM Punk was offered the Rey Mysterio/Brock Lesnar feud to analyse - that's been the best-booked match on the entire card.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
