5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (31 July - Results & Review)
2. Gunther Getting Involved (Plus Nick Aldis)
It was a '2-for-1' sale on SummerSlam hype during the opening quarter hour.
Gunther ran in to attack both Zayn and Bálor. He then (almost hilariously) asked if he needed to beat Adam Pearce up as well to get back in the WWE Title picture. That’s when Nick Aldis ran in to put Gunther in a Texas Cloverleaf before security pulled them apart, but Gunther got to land a big boot on Nick before they were finally separated for good. It was a nice idea to piggy back this on the back of Sami and Finn’s confrontation.
The whole ordeal made for a hot start to the show that packed build for 2 big matches into the equation, and nobody can be mad at that sort of thinking. When Triple H's booking is at its best, it's old school and traditional wrasslin' show. That's what he served up here. Both Bálor and Sami have realistic motivations/goals, and both want to become number one contender.
Then, there's the 'Ring General' and his bully boy mentality which authority is trying to contain. That's led to one of them (Aldis) willingly giving up his office job so he can knock Gunther down a peg and quell his dissent once and for all. These are solid stories, and WWE told them well on Friday's show. If only every feud/storyline the company serves up had this kind of logic, heat and fan interest.
That'd be living in a perfect world, eh? Not even the cherished 'Attitude Era' got everything right 100% of the time.