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

4. Rock Solid Cruiserweight Effort

Those who check these reports out regularly will know that the dude writing it wasn't keen on seeing Rey Fenix defend his AAA Cruiserweight Title in showcase bouts on WWE's main roster. Why? Well, he just didn't/doesn't have any faith in the higher-ups to keep it going without losing interest. It felt like a flavour of the month idea to replace the outgoing United States Title open challenges.

Credit where it's due though: Rey is doing his best to make something of these spots when he gets them.

His match on Friday night vs. JD McDonagh was a fun watch. WWE even managed to tie in some Danhausen and Dominik Mysterio stuff without taking all of the spotlight away from the AAA Cruiserweight Title bout. Yes, it still remains to be seen if splicing AAA onto the main product is sustainable long-term, but it’d be silly to discount how hard Fenix and McDonagh worked to give the live crowd on SmackDown a hot match to cheer about.

That Mexican Muscle Buster to finish looked sweet on top of all that. Fenix really puts his all into every performance, which is something he deserves praise for considering how far his star has fallen since debuting last year. He watched WWE give up on him, then his brother Penta stole a lot of the same thunder he was reaching for. It's been a struggle ever since, but this was an excellent little TV match.

Special word for JD too. He's such a valuable utility player.