7 Ups & 9 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (April 2)

1. Extreme Laziness

Becky Lynch WrestleMania sign
WWE.com

The most galling thing about last night's SmackDown was its laziness, as the blue brand's writing team sat back, took it easy, and declined to take any risks on the WrestleMania go-home show. Such is life in the Network era, but that they opted to do this five days before the biggest wrestling show of the year is extremely disappointing.

Even the good stuff was generic: this show featured both a chat show and a contract signing, for Christ's sake. The 8-man tag and multi-person sh*t show was classic WWE: "let's just throw 'em all out there and see what happens, pal!". Becky Lynch, The IIconics, and The Miz all cut promos in which they talked at their WrestleMania opponents without satisfying resolutions. There were Raw recaps and video packages. The list goes on.

SmackDown is supposed to be better than this. As put by Big E on Twitter yesterday afternoon, it is "the mouthwash you need after the turd Raw just left in your mouth." That wasn't the case here, and it's thanks to a writing team that chose to take this, of all weeks, off.

Let's hope the post-Mania SmackDown isn't this lame.

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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.