3 Ups & 7 Downs From WWE SmackDown (July 22)
Brock Lesnar's "surprise" appearance; WWE thanks Vince McMahon; SummerSlam setup sags.
*insert 'has anything happened in pro wrestling recently?!' joke here*
Oh yes, Vince McMahon's retirement announcement caught everybody by surprise before last night's episode of WWE SmackDown aired. It didn't take long before endless amounts of tweets popped up cracking jokes like the above.
WWE wheeled out Stephanie McMahon to pay quick tribute to her father during Friday's opening, and it may shock some that Steph's promo is considered a SmackDown highlight here. The latest bump on the road to SummerSlam didn't have much to shout about elsewhere, in fairness.
This was a largely-routine show, and not one that'll shift any tickets for the summer spectacular; WWE are probably lucky that they're not at the mercy of a traditional pay-per-view model these days, because they're doing a rotten job of making SummerSlam must-see.
Several mind-numbing booking choices on the undercard continue to present some stars as lifeless too. Lacey Evans is the most alarming one, but even reigning Intercontinental Champion and all-round chopping machine Gunther is falling into the same trap.
Here's all the good and bad from an edition of Smackers that was probs more dramatic behind the curtain than it was in front of it.