7 Ups & 8 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (May 7)

4. Earn It

The Usos Shane McMahon Rowan Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

Your writer was ready to hate whatever Shane McMahon did with the SmackDown Tag Team Championships on last night's show, and already had a Down mapped out in his head. Fortunately, Shane gifting the belts to a pair of heels turned out to be a swerve. Daniel Bryan and Rowan were made to wrestle for the belts instead, and they wound up facing the most dominant tandem in modern SmackDown history.

This was the right move. While handing the straps to a villainous team may have generated cheap heat, it would have further devalued a set of championships that has been stuck in the sh*tter for months. Going all in on said heat may have been the only way of pulling it off, with Shane naming himself and somebody like Elias as champs, but Bryan and Rowan earning their straps was the better choice.

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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.