3 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (21 Nov - Results & Review)

1. Main Event Doesn’t Cut It

Mark it down. This is the second week in a row that SmackDown’s main event has been lacking.

Penta vs. Finn Bálor as part of the ongoing quest to wrestle John Cena's last match looked rock solid on paper, but it never really got going. It’s like all they had was a 2 minute closing stretch and that was it. Honestly, any self-respecting wrestling fan would hate to say guys of this quality ever go through the motions, but they ran damn close to it on Friday night. The live crowd picked up on that and felt muted as a result too.

No, there isn't much to shout about with this one. It's tough to recommend, and that sucks when you realise the calibre of worker between those ropes. Also, not that Triple H particularly cares about this sort of stuff, but WWE booked 2 Raw guys in the SmackDown main event. Remember this next time they hype up a Draft and make a lot of noise about how the rosters on major shows are "separate".

There was a crystal clear moment when the ref told Bálor and Penta to go home. That's when the pace quickened. Sure, this is nothing new for TV matches, but it felt like nothing else other than that 2 minute drill actually happened. Penta winning makes sense, at least, and putting him against Solo Sikoa in the tournament feels like a legitimately fresh outcome.

Here's hoping they serve up something better than Penta and Finn did. Man, it's actually a shocker how lukewarm their match turned out to be.