7 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE Backstage (Nov 5)

Bray Wyatt lights up FS1 with a special Firefly Fun House, whilst Cena, Shawn and Satin all speak.

Bray Wyatt
WWE.com

With an entertaining maiden voyage, is it now safe to officially consider WWE Backstage the confirmed spiritual successor to the much-missed Talking Smack? And if it's too early for that, is it at least okay to celebrate the fact it's actually been good?

In a rare case of careful preparation from WWE, the pilot/soft-launch editions of the new FS1 SmackDown sister show were enjoyable in spite of typical company constraints. There was discussion of storylines that felt dated or dumb, but the panel brought them to life with the sort of spark painfully absent during Raw's third hour. Crossover moments with sports stars cutting promos were harmless palette cleansers rather than whatever the f*ck Tyson Fury and Cain Velasquez were doing at Crown Jewel. Booker T took no prisoners as he took down Seth Rollins' WWE Title tenure.

Ever-effusive and in the role that suits her more so than any other in the company, Renee Young made for a perfect host on both editions thanks to her effortless crowd control alongside Booker, Christian and Paige.

Her professionalism and malleability was again evident in the first show proper, not least considering the blockbuster news buried within...

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Contributor
Contributor

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