3 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (July 21)
NXT invades SmackDown; Austin Theory looks weak; A rare loss for The Bloodline.
WWE set up Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso for SummerSlam on 5 August during this week's episode of SmackDown. That's huge, but the match is for more than just Roman's Undisputed Title(s). Indeed, the pair's "Tribal Combat" clash will also see Reigns put his 'Tribal Chief' status up for grabs.
Amazingly, even that tasty announcement couldn't stop The Bloodline's segment from sagging. Few reading this would've been expecting that - it's important to remember that this is just one person's opinion though. It's obviously fine for others to see things another way. A lack of intensity just curtailed the closing segment, which sucks to report.
Elsewhere, Asuka finally got to bare her teeth, and NXT stars invaded the main roster. Shawn Michaels was there, so was Tiffany Stratton (for an in-crowd cameo), and Dominik Mysterio even put his newly-won North-American Title on the line against Butch.
Throughout, something felt...off about blue brand business. Reports flooding in that various health concerns forced a last-minute rewrite of some segments make sense then. Fingers crossed everybody involved in that heals up ASAP.
Here's all the good and bad from Friday!