8 Ups & 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (10 Sept)
Ups...
8. Daydream In Blue
WWE
A very quick note on Madison Square Garden, because the company tragically isn't there enough for us to enjoy this more.
As it did on Monday Night Raw, the venue looked stunning - a beautiful, timeless theatre for WWE's theatre of conflict that couldn't be harmed by the company's strategic homogenisation of venues. That roof bathed in blue looked powerful, as did the sea of people packed in to the venue for the show.
Ticket sales weren't looking particularly strong ahead of the event, but WWE's production team as usual deserves the praise for masking the lower-than-expected turnout, particularly for the wide beauty shots of the venue that would have been criminal not to capture.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 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 over 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 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana 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
