7 Ups & 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (11 Oct)
1. The Best Of What's Left?
WWE
Those War Room executives sure looked thrilled to score Randy Orton et al during the various cutaways to the two sides, but the suited and bespectacled actors were obviously paid well for those pops as the Draft ROLLED ON.
Round 4's groupings, for example, were so bereft of excitement that barely Michael Cole and Corey Graves could put it over.
Nikki Cross was an illogical waste of a pick, considering how she could have been selected alongside Alexa Bliss. The Street Profits got minimal response upon Stephanie McMahon's announcement, damning their Statler & Waldorf run on the red brand to this point. Lucha House Party, with respect to all three men behind the mask, are booked to f*cking suck, yet got the jump on Otis and his big belly.
And for that matter, if you think Heavy Machinery were kept amongst the upper echelon for any other reason than that, you've simply not been watching the product closely enough.
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
