5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (31 July - Results & Review)

3. All That Hype For A Non-Finish?!

Damian Priest and R-Truth vs. The War Raiders had been teased for around a month at least. Then, come crunch time, WWE gave the quartet 6 short minutes and a non-finish for their efforts. Yes, they’re leading to a proper rematch, but this wasn’t satisfying whatsoever. Non-finishes rarely are. Come on, Triple H. Throw your tag-team division a bone for once!

Personally, this fan liked Tama and Talla Tonga attacking post-bell (and the fact that Haku is with them), but this match could've been more. It should've been more. Erik and Ivar have struggled to make a splash in the promotion for years now, so they were shipped off to AAA and made something of themselves there. Now they're back, it's just more of the same monotony for the pair.

That's painful to witness.

SmackDown was cut from 3-2 hours, so maybe creative reason they don't have enough time to put matches like this in the ring for any longer than they did here. Don't book it then, and certainly don't bother hyping the thing up like some massive tag-team collision everyone needs to see only to crap the bed once the time comes. That doesn't reward viewer investment, and it's a bit of a slap in the face to those who followed the meagre scraps of story in backstage segments week after week.

Again, there's more tag stuff coming on Smackers, but it'll be hard to get completely lost in it/interested if this is what happens in the end. What a waste of time for The Raiders. Same old story for these guys, huh?