3 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE SmackDown (June 25)
Edge returns; WWE's women's division gets exposed; SmackDown presses the repeat button.
Roman Reigns' facial expression might've summed it up.
Last week's thumping Hell In A Cell bout between the great man himself and underdog genius Rey Mysterio was just one of many plus points on SmackDown. WWE put on a show stacked with goodness, and some nice flow combined with that killer headliner to make it watchable. This week? Not so much. In fact, this was one colossal step backwards for the blue brand at times.
The incredible thing there is that Edge is back. Everything should feel rosy in the garden, but it somehow doesn't. SmackDown's writers have outright failed to explain why one major story beat is even happening, and they're really struggling to find fresh scenarios for some super-talented players elsewhere on the card.
That's causing some rinse-and-repeat booking, and it's all going on a little too long.
Here's the beautiful thing about SmackDown: WWE's Friday night show is easier to sit through than those three-hour Monday marathons. That, often, excuses some of the sh*te and masks a fair few problems.
Here are all the 'Ups' and 'Downs' from the latest MITB build.