5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (3 July - Results & Review)
Sami Zayn's WWE Title reign could be short-lived; SmackDown returns to 2 hours.
Cody Rhodes could restore (his) order and bring Sami Zayn's shock WWE Title reign crashing down on Monday's episode of Raw. Lining up that tasty showdown was SmackDown's main goal on Friday, but the show was actually pre-taped rather than live. Thankfully, the production truck didn't go crazy with those canned cheers or too much crowd sweetening.
They didn't need to anyway.
SmackDown has returned to a zippier 2-hour format, and that means some of the matches will be shorter and there will be less droning in-ring talking head segments generally. Good, because some of the pre-amble used to set up midcard matches in particular was painful on the 3-hour shows. Things move at a better clip when dropping that unnecessary third hour.
AAA got another showcase, Fatal Influence could be champions elect, and Jade Cargill is coming for Charlotte Flair. Those, along with Cody snagging himself another title shot vs. Sami on Monday, were the biggest positive takeaways from the night. On the downside? Trick Williams feels flat as a pancake, Jey Uso's involvement widdled all over King Of The Ring, there's some bizarre unseen WWE lore, and Finn Bálor's blue brand jump seems totally fruitless thus far.
Overall, SmackDown will be a much easier weekly to digest at 2 hours long though. Some of the matches here hit the heights without entering 5-star territory or anything, and the biggest story beats in the main event and women's scenes definitely landed the way Triple H wanted them to.
Here's all the good and bad as WWE powers towards Saturday Night's Main Event then SummerSlam beyond that.