7 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (May 14)
2. Same Old Tropes
![Randy Orton](https://cdn3.whatculture.com/images/2019/05/38f633ebbdac6c13-600x338.jpg)
Contract signings aside, no WWE tropes are more tedious than those they use to sell themed pay-per-views.
The Royal Rumble build sees boatloads of wrestlers brawling in the ring, dumping each other over the top rope until only one remains... because symbolism. Survivor Series necessitates dopy home brand t-shirts and Raw/SmackDown invasions. Now, we're fast approaching Money In The Bank, which means dudes cutting promos from halfway up ladders, and other dudes scaling said ladders to grab the briefcase, with 50/50 booking telling you that said dudes have precisely zero chance of winning the match.
It's all a little tired, and this week's SmackDown was full of such tropes. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. WWE has never been so formulae-dependent as it is today, but it'd be nice to see them switch their presentation up.