5 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (July 11)

This week's SmackDown was certainly one of those shows - not a big star-studded lineup, nor a go-home show to a pay per view. It definitely felt as though the blue brand was spinning its wheels this week, from several short matches to the strange house show vibe of the main event.

That's not to say the show was a bad one exactly; there were several little highlights to enjoy, and nothing especially bad - but unless a few surprises are pulled out of the bag next week, it'll be hard to get too excited for the upcoming Battleground pay per view.

The main theme of the show was unlikely alliances, with Styles and Cena joining forces to take on the new heel alliance between Kevin Owens and Rusev. While this felt fresh, it came instead of a teased rematch between AJ and Cena - something fans were vocally far more enthusiastic to see.

Elsewhere on the card we saw a curious non-match between Nakamura and Corbin, some lazy women's division booking from Shane McMahon, and a reminder that the infamous Punjabi Prison stipulation is on the horizon.

Let's jump in and take a look at all the ups and downs from a rather inconsistent edition of SmackDown Live.

Jinder Mahal's bout with Tye Dillinger was fine - more on that later - but his post-match promo was a worrying one. The WWE Champion again lapsed into anti-American rhetoric, a very tired trope by this point, and informed an absent Randy Orton that he'd be bringing the Punjabi Prison itself with him next week.

It looks as though we'll have one of those obvious visual reminders of a seldom-used stipulation on next week's SmackDown, but wouldn't it have been better to keep the structure under wraps until Battleground itself?

Regardless, not many are expecting Orton to seize the title back when the match rolls around. The main question instead revolves around what he'll do once he's out of the title picture - and who Jinder will find himself facing at SummerSlam.