7 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE Backstage (Nov 5)
3. No Holds Barred
WWE
A high quality format that will do a great deal for every character and angle they cover on the show, the quick hits conversations on some of current key talking will do far more for many of the performers than the bloated moments on Raw and SmackDown.
Donating two minutes to the Championship future of The Fiend Bray Wyatt and the uncertain one of Seth Rollins, the crew spoke quite frankly about the praise and criticism both characters have recently had to face.
Wyatt was mostly showered in plaudits from the panel, whilst Rollins took yet more lumps, constructive as they may have been. Paige in particular echoed a lot of the online narrative working against him, whilst Booker's beautifully inarticulate "he needs a buffer to cover up the flaws he do have" wasn't as wide of the mark as it may have sounded.
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
