5 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (July 18)

1. USA Vs. The World... Again

John Cena was in strong form on SmackDown. One of the best talkers in the business, he was in his element as he hyped Sunday’s flag match with Rusev, painting himself as a man of the people, and cutting a textbook “America, eff yeah!” promo. His delivery was fiery, passionate, and engaging, but ultimately let down by his material.

USA vs. The World is wrestling’s most outdated storyline, yet one WWE turn to constantly. We’ve already seen Cena and Rusev slotted into this specific rivalry, and there’s no need for it in 2017. It’s a dull, clichéd angle that was best left in the 1980s, and while these men are both excellent performers, they’re working within a framework that makes excitement impossible.

Rusev arrived at the end of Cena’s promo, and laid the 16-time World Champion out. This means that he’s almost certainly going to lose at the weekend, and we can probably look forward to another corny, overly patriotic post-match celebration from John. The bout itself may produce some fun action, but if WWE were going to slot these two into another feud, they’d have been better off without the corny ‘rah-rah-America’ motifs.