5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (July 8)

Theory shows up on SmackDown; Gunther gets a killer feud; Sheamus gets...COVID?

Roman Reigns
WWE

Roman Reigns returned to WWE telly on Friday night, but the big story is that Sheamus has COVID! OK, not really, but the creative team did actually use that as a plot point on this week's SmackDown - the leader of the Brawling Brutes said he couldn't wrestle Drew McIntyre because he was sick.

Eek!

Elsewhere, Liv Morgan's title celebration got squashed again, another flip-flopping female star turned heel again and WWE decided to make this year's Money In The Bank winner look like a second-rate joke again. Spotting a pattern? Thankfully, SmackDown wasn't all bad.

Positives came in the form of 'dem Viking Raiders looking like ass-kicking machines that'd make Eivor from Assassin's Creed: Valhalla grin from ear-to-ear, and Gunther just got an Intercontinental Title feud that'll be well-worth watching. Better yet, the big Austrian also worked in some character development here too.

Maximum Male Models showed up, Madcap Moss kickstarted his next mini-feud, SummerSlam matches got set up and more. Yep, this was a busy (if inconsistent) episode of blue brand fare. Here's all the good and the bad from it...

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