5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (3 July - Results & Review)
Downs...
4. The Downside Of The Opening Segment
SmackDown's open had some good and bad to it.
Sami Zayn was fine, and more on that later, but Cody Rhodes wanting an immediate rematch for the WWE Title is problem number one when he realistically has nothing to bitch or moan about. The second issue? Jey Uso even being there to demand title shots when he lost that King Of The Ring final to Oba Femi. WWE has kinda fudged that entire tournament’s prestige by having Oba willingly give up his SummerSlam title shot to face Brock Lesnar and by putting defeated finalist Jey in the title frame at all.
No, none of this could be considered the worst thing in the world, but it's definitely annoying. Also, as an aside to that, SmackDown’s top title being defended on Raw will irk some watching. WWE flits between wanting you to care about wrestlers working on a certain brand and ignoring their own rules completely. This is something they've been doing for decades, but hopes were high that Triple H would change a baffling Vince McMahon trope. Apparently he has no interest in tidying the brand stuff up.
So, to recap, Zayn's celebratory 'I'm a good guy, honest' promo was fab and he has plenty of chemistry with Cody, but Uso being sent by Roman Reigns to reclaim a belt Jey has never held is odd storytelling. Don't worry, there's a positive take on all of this coming in the 'Ups' section, which really goes to show how deep one can dig into all of the little nuances to skits like this.