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

2. Winner: Bray Wyatt

Bray Wyatt had a relatively quiet night on last week’s SmackDown Live. With The Wyatt Family seemingly finished, Bray fought for the right to face Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship in the night’s main event, but ultimately fell short when AJ Styles was pinned by Dolph Ziggler. While many felt Wyatt was a more natural choice to face Ambrose at SummerSlam, last week did him no harm whatsoever. He looked like a threat throughout the match and wasn’t involved in the decisive pinfall, so he lost no momentum.

This week, Bray made a big leap forward. He attacked Ziggler shortly after his in-ring confrontation with Ambrose, and claimed him unworthy of being champion. Bray challenged Ziggler to put his SummerSlam contendership on the line in the night’s main event, and Ziggler did just that.

Bray lost the match, but Ziggler had to go to great lengths to overturn him. It took a slam into an exposed turnbuckle and a superkick to ensure the victory, and afterwards, Erick Rowan reunited with his long-time ally to destroy both Ziggler and Ambrose. The show went off the air with the Wyatts standing firm, and Bray looked like a million dollars.

This is a great example of a wrestler succeeding in spite of his defeat. SmackDown’s currently lacking in main event heels, and Bray will get his title shot soon enough, and last night, he felt like a real threat for the first time in many moons.