3 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (17 July - Results & Review)
2. Stip Added, Main Event Made!
That was a perfectly serviceable opening segment.
Gunther moaned about Nick Aldis, then Adam Pearce came out to say that a stipulation had already been added to the Saturday Night's Main Event tag-team match before that attack last week. In short, if Gunther and Sami Zayn win, then they’re added to the WWE Title match at SummerSlam. It becomes a Fatal-4-Way, which CM Punk later told Pearce doesn't suit him.
Cody Rhodes then attacked Gunther and the main event for SmackDown was made. Slick work from everyone here, because there was no time wasted and they managed to make a previously-throwaway situation (that SNME tag) seem like something worth checking out. Kudos to Trips and his army of writers for that, 'cause Gunther and Zayn teaming up vs. Cody and Punk seemed like a waste of everyone's time before Friday's episode.
Fired up Cody is the best kind of Cody too. He excels when he has a reason to be annoyed, and he definitely owed the 'Ring General' a receipt after Gunther's Raw attack took him out of the WWE Title clash with Sami. That paved the way for Punk to sneak in and win the gold, so Rhodes always had to come for his Austrian nemesis again at some stage.
In around 10 minutes or so, WWE lined up a headliner everyone in attendance wanted to see and put some importance on Saturday's show inside Madison Square Garden. Presumably, Cody and CM will win out there, but all 4 guys involved now have ample reason to work with their respective partners.
That wasn't the case before this quarter hour.