9 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (18 Oct)
3. Six Of The Best
WWE.com
It's not easy to be thrown into a multi-person match and take at least a moment of your own, but all the combatants fighting to become number one contender to Bayley's SmackDown Women's Championship combined to craft a match that delivered way, way more than early promises suggested.
The down-the-ramp promos as it kicked off were cheesy, and early exchanges looked choreographed and a little forced, but all of that was eroded as the clash entered its final third.
Fire & Desire worked well together despite neither able to get close to scoring the win themselves, whilst Lacey Evans looked refreshed and revived on the blue brand with somebody other than Natalya or Becky Lynch to bounce off. Nikki Cross was a popular winner too - her relationship with Alexa Bliss has done just enough to smoothen a few edges apparent when she first debuted. Could this newfound solo success be what tears that apart?
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 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 almost 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 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL 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
