5 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Aug 21)
Wider problems hamper what should've been Becky's big night.
SummerSlam was a largely successful pay-per-view that, while not without its problems, succeeded in delivering the kind of "moments" WWE centre their storytelling around, building much anticipation for SmackDown's biggest programmes.
Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles and The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan concluded in appropriately screwy fashion, keeping the door open for future encounters. The dominant Bludgeon Brothers looked genuinely vulnerable for the first time in months. Charlotte Flair become Women's Champion, but faced an immediate backlash from Becky Lynch, whose apparent heel turn left 'The Queen' battered and broken.
These developments provided much of last night's material, with Lynch answering for her actions, The New Day and Bludgeon Brothers rematching for tag gold, Joe going for AJ's throat, and Bryan and Miz opening the show. Elsewhere, there was a long overdue win for one of The IIconics, Aiden English sought to prove himself to Rusev and Lana, while serial ear-abuser Randy Orton was at it again with Jeff Hardy.
It was a solid, steady show carried by a handful of strong performances, and nowhere near a net negative. Still, SmackDown was diminished by a number of wider issues. Here's how it all went down...