5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE SmackDown Live (23 Aug)
A great night of action, but who benefited most?
SmackDown's roster did not have a good night at SummerSlam 2016. Despite an outstanding match between AJ Styles and John Cena, the blue brand generally struggled to impress, and the well-built Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler WWE World Championship match failed to deliver.
It wasn’t entirely the wrestlers’ fault, though. Taking place deep within SummerSlam’s midcard, SmackDown’s top belt was made to look like a second-rate prize. It featured well below the Universal Championship match, and even the woman’s six-person tag and Rusev’s US Title non-match with Roman Reigns were treated with more importance.
If the devaluation of SmackDown’s “top prize” wasn’t enough, Randy Orton, one of the brand’s biggest stars, was soundly destroyed by Brock Lesnar in the main event, before Commissioner Shane McMahon ate an F5 of his own.
A poor night all-round, but SmackDown took some big steps towards recovery last night. Their post-SummerSlam show was the hard reset that the brand needed, and the show delivered on every level. The old stories have concluded, and the bulk of SD’s roster set-out in bold new directions headed towards September’s Backlash: the first brand-specific PPV of the 2016 Brand Split.
As usual, some wrestlers had good nights, while others suffered. Going beyond straightforward match outcomes, here are the 5 biggest winners and losers from SmackDown Live.