12 Ups & 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Jun 25)
A step in the right direction, but oh-so formulaic.
Last night's SmackDown was a classic case of great performers transcending bad writing. The wrestlers worked hard and delivered a big batch of largely enjoyable segments and matches, though their jobs were made harder by Vince McMahon's bloated creative team, whose curious booking choices and strict adherence to overdone formulae dragged it down to a three-star show.
Vince's new insistence that no wrestling should take place during commercial breaks yielded a couple of two-out-of-three falls matches. The Miz met Shane McMahon proxy Elias in the first, continuing that long-running storyline, while Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston collided in the main event. If he won, Dolph would be added to the champ's upcoming Extreme Rules defence versus Samoa Joe.
SmackDown also brought big developments in the tag division as Daniel Bryan and Rowan's regular tag with The New Day erupted after the final bell, pulling Heavy Machinery and Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn into the mix. Elsewhere, Ember Moon's feud with Fire and Desire continued as she wrestled Sonya Deville, Nikki Cross battled Bayley in her latest attempt at appeasing Alexa Bliss, R-Truth bantered "Hornswoggle" off, and someone finally knocked on Aleister Black's door.
Let's dive into it.