9 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (18 Oct)
4. It's A New Bay, Yes It Is
WWE.com
A gentle up for here the intention of the segment if not always the content and delivery, a Miz TV explanation of Bayley's turn from the 'Hugger' herself and her tacitly condescending best friend Sasha Banks at least delivered what it promised.
After staying silent whilst Banks and Miz did most of the talking, Bayley solemnly noted what she felt had been a rather one-sided give-and-take relationship with the fans before cribbing Vince McMahon's "life sucks, and then you die" exclamation for big boos.
And to be fair, that's what most of this got. It wasn't the most convincing or captivating of segments, but it got a lot of heat for the division's new top heel. Mission accomplished for now, at least.
Having seen it as part of a full entrance, the new music might need a bit of a touch-up, but these things usually get tweaked from the original anyway.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 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. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, 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
