6 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (June 12)
Ups...
6. Raising Standards
It's a massive leap forward for Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro if they're next in line for a shot at New Day's SmackDown Tag-Team Titles. Not to rag on Corbin too much (this writer generally enjoys his work), but they were gaining nothing by hanging off his coat tails and doing his bidding without explanation.
They had a tidy little tag match here too.
Naka and Cesaro are good enough as a duo to deserve this spot. Seeing them grow into a competitive tag was rewarding on this week's show, and WWE didn't try anything funky - this was straight-ahead booking, and the kind that'll help both sides. Now, the heels have shown they can beat the champs, and said champs are under threat.
The company achieved all of that in less than 10 minutes. This should act as a lesson to them that stifling such feuds with too much, too soon isn't the way to go. Cesaro and Shin were elevated, New Day have new challengers and everyone's a winner.