5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Aug 18)

2. Giving Bloodline Business A Break

Roman Reigns, The Usos, Solo Sikoa, Paul Heyman and The Bloodline story at large is obviously very important to SmackDown, but the narrative deserved a week off. That gives everyone watching a breather, and means people will be refreshed and ready to see more twists and turns next week.

Smart.

This is one of the first times in a long time that zero members of The Bloodline hit the ring for a match or promo skit, and that's not a complaint. Some were starting to think that the story was sagging. Maybe that problem will return when the workers do, but breaks aren't a bad thing by any means.

SmackDown did feature some Bloodline storytelling, to be fair. It was done in such a deft and careful way though, and that's worth mentioning. No Roman, no Jimmy (he's back next week), no Jey, and no Solo. How about Heyman? Well...