7 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE Backstage (Oct 15)
4. Captain Charisma
WWE
The aforementioned inadvertent negging wasn't the only thing Christian brought to the table (not literally, the lack of something for any of the hosts to lean on was slightly off-putting throughout) during an unlikely appearance on a show that could have succumbed to too much bullsh*t and bluster.
Composed, controlled and never short of his sharp sense of humour, Christian dictated his moments much as he used to his matches. Approaching all the current WWE storylines with a sincerity Corey Graves could do with adopting once in a while, the former World Heavyweight Champion leant huge credibility to the conversation in contrast to Booker's on-off buffoonery.
Plus, SmackDown's colour scheme is blue, so if Vince McMahon still hates his face, the dot across it on future episodes will as least be on brand.
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
