7 Ups & 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (11 Oct)
2. Here's BAYLEY
WWE
Bayley taking a literal f*cking axe to the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men will surely make more children cry than the poor lad currently doing the rounds on Twitter after a Fox retweet, so impactful was this permanent and proper reintroduction of her as a bonafide heel.
A good argument for WWE against the many reasoned arguments that they can't tell longer form stories, the turn was well earned following weeks of her no-selling what a sh*thead she'd become since linking arms with returning partner-in-crime Sasha Banks.
The SmackDown Women's Championship loss to Charlotte Flair at Hell In A Cell clearly wrecked her wiring for good, even if that wasn't abundantly clear in her middling acting job on the night. This, brilliantly, left no cause for doubt. The new hair, gear, entrance and theme were all tells of a huge commitment in a new phase of the former 'Hugger's career.
It was important the booking followed through to a natural conclusion...
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he 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 on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
