5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (27 June - Results & Review)

4. Surprise Package For That Women’s US Belt

The Women's United States Title has lived an up and down existence thus far. Chelsea Green was a fine choice as first champ, but WWE never capitalised on her zest as a colourful heel character with comedic flourishes before putting the belt on Zelina Vega. Without being cruel, Zelina was never a fitting successor, so it's no shocker that creative elected to put the title on ex-NXT sensation Giulia over in Saudi Arabia instead.

At least Vega can look back on this match and be proud. She matched Giulia step for step on Friday night, and the now-former champ showed far more here than she's been able to against other opponents. This was a super-fun match from start to finish. Giulia's ring awareness to get her feet on the ropes following Zelina's Code Red was a cool near fall spot, then they went into the finish and the title change.

Yes, the Women’s United States Title is already starting to feel like a trinket that just gets passed around, but SmackDown's showing was a much better match than most reasonably expected going in. Besides, Vega was always going to be a temporary champion. The real challenge will be finding Giulia a strong feud to move onto. She deserves that, and the title badly needs more credibility than it has at time of writing.

If nothing else, at least now the belt has a better shot at appearing on PLEs (rather than Saturday Night's Main Event specials at best) than it did on Green or Zelina. Triple H will be keen to continue the push his pal Shawn Michaels started with Giulia down at NXT.