9 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 11)

1. Rap Battle Blues

The Usos The Bar rap battle
WWE.com

Last year's rap battle between The Usos and New Day was an unexpected SmackDown delight highlighted by The Usos' lyrical evisceration of Xavier Woods. This one, unfortunately, fell in line with what would normally be anticipated from such segments, which is to say it was lame. Pretty, pretty lame.

Sheamus and Cesaro looked and rapped like goofs. That 'ice, ice Sheamy' was their key punchline tells you everything you need to know about The Bar's bars, but while Jimmy and Jey could a couple of passable barbs in, they didn't drop any major quotables. Interviewing 'Mr. Turnbuckle' about the time he wrecked Cesaro's mouth was a nice touch and prompted the Europeans to jump the babyfaces, and they stood tall in the end, hoisting the SmackDown Tag Team Championships high.

The segment was set up to make the heels look foolish ahead of TLC. To that end, it worked, but there was little entertainment to be found within the rap battle, and it did a mighty good job of slowing the show down from its fast start. It wasn't awful; just tedious.

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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.