4 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (July 25)

Ups…

4. John Cena Stakes His Claim

WWE Champion Jinder Mahal hit the ring halfway through last night’s show. Having defeated Randy Orton at Battleground, ‘The Maharaja’ was looking for new competition, and he found it in John Cena.

‘The Face That Runs The Place’ interrupted Mahal’s textbook victory promo with a solid offering of his own, mixing a blending humour with characteristic bravado. He promised to walk out at 17-time champion at SummerSlam, stating that he didn’t care about The Great Khali and The Singh Brothers, but it wasn’t as straightforward as Cena coming out and booking himself in the match.

Daniel Bryan emerged, and put Cena in a number one contender’s bout against Shinsuke Nakamura next week. The winner will face Mahal at SummerSlam, and while the outcome seems predictable, it should at least be a fun match.

A relatively routine promo, but one that had enough good points to mark it as a net positive. Jinder was as uninspiring as ever, but Cena was in typically good form, and the contender’s match at least gives SummerSlam’s card the illusion of unpredictability.