8 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Oct 16)

Ups...

8. That Open

As contrived as it was, the opening brawl skit was also undoubtedly frantic.

Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were harmless enough (despite their errant claims that everything was new and shiny on SmackDown) before they made way for the roster to throw down. Crucially, the likes of Street Profits and the team of Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler paired off, as did Lars Sullivan and Jeff Hardy.

That fed neatly into the opening match; the brawl, whilst formulaic, was well thought out. It also didn't eat up too much time. Anyone tuning in slightly late would've seen bodies flying all over the place, and that might've encouraged them to stop channel hopping. WWE were blatantly hoping to jump start the show's energy.

It worked, and they deserve praise for that. Often, SmackDown lacks excitement from the off these days. That's down to the promotion's booking style and the lack of natural ambience, but it was great to see them start off hot here.