8 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 18)
Ups...
8. A Mixed But Ultimately Decent Opening Segment
Becky Lynch cut a typically swaggering, badass promo at the expense of Ronda Rousey—to which Charlotte Flair interrupted to lay out her rematch credentials. An opening talk segment loaded with interruptions—just the three—hardly represents a “fresh start”, but then, two of WWE’s best talkers were promoted effectively, and even Asuka, in this context, reclaimed some of her old, invincible aura.
The problem, as it always is, was Vince McMahon.
He remonstrated with Becky and Charlotte—“Get over it!” were the words he used—and neither woman was permitted to banter him off. The idea of Becky telling Vince to “shut his mouth” was a Steve Austin comparison too far in 2018.
Ultimately, this was another very, very welcome removal from the nihilism-fostering automatic rematch clause trope—even if we were then presented with a match “right now”…