5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (10 Oct - Results & Review)

1. Seriously Tepid Crown Jewel Garnish

Both Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins have gamely tried to up the stakes of their Crown Jewel Title showdown this weekend by discussing their old battles and their unlikely friendship at WrestleMania 40. Further, Seth and Paul Heyman appear to be having some issues heading into the PLE - Rollins stormed off stage during the Crown Jewel Kickoff before SmackDown went on the air.

Will this work? Hmm. Remains to be seen. One thing's for sure: Rhodes was left with pretty much nothing to say as he addressed the audience in Perth to launch SmackDown. He wasn't interrupted by any of his rivals, and repeated much of the same material he's been working with for weeks now. Of course, the men's Crown Jewel bout wasn't the only one to struggle.

Tiffany Stratton and Stephanie Vaquer teamed up but only shared a brief staredown in front of a title one of them will surely only be holding for a few minutes at most. There was nothing to be giddy about, because exactly none of the 5 matches on the PLE were given any last minute garnish here.

You’d be forgiven for sitting some of Triple H’s ‘go home’ episodes out, because they can be a bit lacklustre. It’s like he doesn’t want to give anything away. Fair, but you still need to give people something! SmackDown survived on the strength of things that had next to nothing to do with a supershow that's literally happening this weekend, and that's a problem.

Crown Jewel just doesn't feel all that significant in the grand scheme of things. It speaks volumes that Cody and Seth are bringing up issues from approx 3 years ago to sell their match.