8 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Mar 20)

Ups…

8. Just Like Old Times

Natalya Charlotte
WWE

Ignore a quite Dallas crowd presumably knackered from chanting one word so solidly at the top half of a fabulous broadcast, because Charlotte and Natalya yet again proved how reliable their chemistry is when not hamstrung by atrocious booking or p*ss-poor segments like the one that had just aired.

It's something of an epidemic in the organisation at the moment - lots of wrestlers are substantially better without a storyline that with one thanks to creative cul-de-sacs or script sh*thousery. These two have had pay-per-view feuds with less appealing matches than the one they assembled on an edition of SmackDown Live! in which they had absolutely no chance of being star attractions on.

It was maybe Flair's best effort since dethroning Natalya last December, and up there in the second tier of matches they've had nestled below their NXT TakeOver classic.

Scoring a win over the Champion probably won't exactly lodge her into title contention either side of WrestleMania, but Natalya reminded the audience (and her bosses) what she could still bring on her best day, and a strong performance in the frustratingly stake-less WrestleMania Battle Royal looks likely on this evidence.

Ditto for her sidekick...

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 almost 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 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL 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