9 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (18 Oct)
7. Power Of Positivity
WWE
A segment that will only out itself as the best or worst on the show in the fullness of time, a bit of comedy between The New Day and Heavy Machinery hid a marvellous bit of character work from Kofi Kingston that went unnoticed by the announcers and the others within the bit.
Ahead of Otis chugging some protein-powered pancake mix, Tucker explained his intent to cheer Kofi up about his WWE Championship loss. Ever-happy to be there, the former titleholder said he had all he needed with the vaunted "Power Of Positivity", but his actions spoke louder than his words.
Crushing two pancakes between his fists, it was though Kingston was stifling a rage desperate to escape. A rage being bottled for either Brock Lesnar or his New Day cohorts, based on the most logical outcomes to this curious new wrinkle in the plot.
Or he was just improvising to try and gain a smidgin of agency back. To be continued.
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
