7 Ups & 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (11 Oct)
6. SPORTS Entertainment
WWE
The gentlest of ups for WWE's effort to get across the significance of the Draft, particularly following some deathly dull "Superstar Shake-up" episodes over the past couple of years.
With War Rooms and various Fox Sports analysts chiming in their (admittedly, valueless) insights throughout the night, there was a noble effort here to get across that this was actually a battle between the television stations and shows to capture as many quality superstars as they could.
One of the biggest gripes around Survivor Series season is just how meaningless the battle for "Brand Supremacy" actually is. Should they go down that route for this year's Thanksgiving Classic, they'll at least have this particular episode to lean on for partial credibility.
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
