5 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (5 July - Results & Review)
WWE's last-min Money In The Bank hype; DIY win gold; Kevin Owens makes an emotional announcement.
Say hello to your brand new WWE Tag-Team Champions.
Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa captured the belts from Austin Theory and Grayson Waller to kick off WWE's jam-packed weekend in Toronto. Money In The Bank is up next, but Triple H clearly fancied giving Canadian fans in the house for SmackDown something to shout about first. DIY winning gold ties in with the split story for A-Town Down Under too.
Friday's episode wasn't as memorable as last week's despite the title switch. Gargano and Ciampa beating Theory and Waller was never going to top Paul Heyman's thumping table bump at the hands of his old Bloodline cohorts, but it still worked a treat on the night. Besides, Solo Sikoa and troops furthered their own story sans Heyman anyway.
Elsewhere, an all-too-familiar revolving door promo for one Money In The Bank match sagged next to another's more impactful match-into-brawl segment. Trips and his creative team might have to start whipping up some new ways to hype these multi-wrestler ladder matches, because that promo train was rather lifeless.
Here's all the good and bad from Smackers last stop pre-PLE!