5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE SmackDown Live (9 Aug)

2. Loser: Natalya

Natalya Carmella
WWE.com

While SmackDown did a good job in finding purpose for its female competitors this week, not many of them left the building better than when they walked qin. Natalya had the dubious honour of wrestling Carmella last night, and while she landed some significant offence on the youngster, it’s a hard loss to take.

Nattie’s heel turn has seen her perform with a sense of energy and vigour that fans thought was long dead. While she’s not exactly been a revelation, Natalya has reestablished herself as a relevant force in the division, and her program with Becky Lynch was a logical, satisfying, and straightforward rivalry.

Since Battleground, however, Natalya has lost to Lynch, attacked Carmella from behind, and now lost cleanly to the former NXT grappler. Her momentum is in the gutter at the moment, and if WWE are using her as an antagonistic foil to get Carmella over, it isn’t working. Nattie is losing ground to a wrestler that the WWE Universe have no stock in, and she suffers as a result: she should be playing a starring role as the division’s big bad wolf, instead, she finds herself at the very bottom of the pile.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.