5 Biggest Winners & Losers From WWE SmackDown Live (Aug 2)

While last week’s Raw presented a much-improved show packed with the kind of thrills WWE fans thought were long gone, SmackDown Live struggled. Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan failed to compile a show capable of matching the Monday night giant, and despite a few highlights, the blue brand felt very much like the B-show as it went off the air.

This week’s show was a significant improvement, and a big step in the right direction for SmackDown. With Raw labouring its way through a deeply mediocre three hours, SD recovered their lost ground with an entertaining show built on a rock solid foundation of good old-fashioned storytelling and character development.

There wasn’t a lot going on inside the ring, but outside, there was plenty for fans to sink their teeth into this week. Bray Wyatt re-established himself as an antagonist, the Dean Ambrose/Dolph Ziggler relationship developed some new layers, and the invading Brock Lesnar got a measure of revenge on Randy Orton. There were some missteps, and SmackDown was far from a perfect show, but the two hours flew-by, and saw Tuesday nights draw level with Mondays as the post-Draft inter-brand war continues.

As always, some wrestlers gained ground while others fell further behind. Going beyond straightforward match results, here are the top five biggest winners and losers from SmackDown Live.