5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (25 July - Results & Review)
WWE pays tribute to Hulk Hogan; TLC at SummerSlam; Jelly Roll continues to impress.
The entire wrestling world has been mourning the loss of Hulk Hogan since news spread of the legend's death on Thursday. WWE paid tribute to Hulk on this week's episode of SmackDown by running a 10-bell salute, various video packages showing his best moments, and by inviting friends like Jimmy Hart and Ted DiBiase to be there in attendance out of respect.
Hogan's tribute tinged the show in sadness immediately, but WWE quickly moved on to promoting next weekend's SummerSlam PLE. The company added another match to the weekender (and it's a good one!), pushed along some of the bigger storylines, and put on a few decent-enough bouts for fans in Cleveland. Nothing in-ring could be considered gripping or world class quality, but the roster is often talented enough to offset mediocrity.
John Cena's absence was keenly felt though. The limited number of dates he has left mid-retirement tour forced Cody Rhodes to go into hype overdrive on his own, and that didn't feel nearly as satisfying as WWE probably hoped it would in light of recent angles. Cody is a damn fine talker who knows how to captivate an audience and flit between measured then heated, but his material was fairly weak on Friday night.
Surprise celebrity package Jelly Roll continues to be a regular highlight on SmackDown too, and who honestly saw that coming when rumours about a marquee story heading into SummerSlam started? The musician has been excellent thus far, and he deserves a lot of praise for slotting in nicely.
Here's all the good and bad from the blue brand's penultimate stop before next weekend's madness.