7 Ups & 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Nov 20)

4. A Lazy, Lazy Night

Shane McMahon
WWE.com

There was a huge lack of star power on last night's show. Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, and The Miz were there, but let's consider who was missing.

The brand's biggest male babyface, AJ Styles, was nowhere to be found after losing his WWE Championship in controversial fashion last week. SmackDown MVP Becky Lynch was absent as well, though her concussion gives WWE a pass. The Usos were the only team to captain SmackDown to victory at Survivor Series but still couldn't make it to TV. US Champion Shinsuke Nakamura? Nope. Rusev? Nah. Samoa Joe? Uh-uh.

On top of this, parts of last night's show were as laboured as the "injured" Shane McMahon's ring entrance. Matches were worked at half a- clip, few performers looked like they could be bothered, and a bunch of these segments and matches felt like they were thrown together purely to fill time. It's almost as if there's a major American holiday coming up and WWE wanted to give their employees an easy night...

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.