6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (4 Sept - Results & Review)
Crap John Cena references! Bakusai's debut! Johnny Wrestling...wrestling!
CM Punk lined up another WWE Title showdown with Sami Zayn for next week's episode of SmackDown on this week's episode of the blue brand. No more running, Mr. Zayn. That's something Sami has been doing a ton of lately, and with good reason. He's a marked man after wrecking everyone's business - Punk, Kevin Owens, Gunther and Finn Bálor all want to get their mitts on the "Last Real Good Guy".
It's working for Friday nights. It really, really is.
Something that isn't working? The United States Title scene. Same goes for a duff feud between Nikki Bella and Paige that had to resort to low hanging fruit just to get any kind of reaction from Cleveland here. Further problems persist in the Women's Title scene too. WWE wheeled out a fake doctor to tell fans something they already knew, thus rendering the segment pointless, then Nia Jax treated Tiffany Stratton like she did Britt Baker back on Raw in 2016.
Sunday Night's Main Event is nigh for the roster, and there are some delicious looking matches on tap. Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes has WWE Title implications, but they only showed up in a pre-tape sit-down hosted by Corey Graves on SmackDown. There wasn't a whole heck of a lot to talk about there though, so it neither gets an 'Up' nor a 'Down'. It fell somewhere in the middle.
Bakusai's tag-team debut, Johnny Gargano wrestling for the first time since April, and Tatum Paxley continuing to shine rounded out the show. Here's all the good and bad!