WWE SmackDown Smacks and Downs: Bray Wyatt created Braun Strowman

The first WWE SmackDown after WrestleMania brings us a new Universal Champion in Braun Strowman. Who will be his first challenger in his initial top title run? Here are the “smacks” and “downs” for Apr. 10.

Last week, I lamented the lack of any story or reasonable justification on WWE SmackDown for Braun Strowman facing Goldberg at WrestleMania as Roman Reigns’ replacement. I also thought a title change was unlikely considering the absence of a build and reason for fan investment.

I forgot to consider that in the era of coronavirus, traditional angles in wrestling don’t necessarily matter anymore.

Not only did Strowman emerge victorious, but he came out looking stronger than he was already billed to be by taking four Spears from Goldberg and surviving. Strowman proceeded to hit Goldberg with his British Bulldog-esque running Powerslam four times for the clean victory.

There has long been an argument that Strowman doesn’t need the top title, but now that he has it, I’m intrigued to see if his reign is more forgettable (like Diesel), a long but tepid reign (like JBL), or a memorable reign (insert your favorite WWE/Universal Championship reign here).

The first steps towards any sort of reign began last night with Strowman’s first night as the top champion on WWE SmackDown. Let’s say I am highly, highly interested in his first big angle as champ.

Ironically enough, however, his first opponent is also someone many argue doesn’t need the top championship…

As a reminder of my criteria, I’m not going to run through each match/segment. Rather, I will identify a couple of segments that either worked (“smack”) or didn’t for whatever reason (“down”).

My criteria include quality of match/segment and how it starts and/or builds stories. After all, we watch partly to be caught up in the stories. If a great work-rate match happens with no context or bearing on the stories, it’s going to be a miss.

Also, just because something is a hit/miss doesn’t mean it was an overwhelming choice. The selection could be 51 percent hit, 75 percent miss, and so on.

There are other subtleties to my criteria, but those are pretty much the parameters.

Let’s also remember rosters are limited right now, and WWE has several talent self-quarantining and/or unable to travel due to state or national restrictions. There was a reason Apollo Crews was in a nearly 30-minute match on RAW and not Rey Mysterio, for example.

Well, I’ll begin with Strowman’s first challenger for his Universal Championship, a foe very familiar to the champion.