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...
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
