6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (19 June - Results & Review)

Sami Zayn looked like he was in danger of falling off a cliff due to awkward, unfunny "comedy" during his feud with Trick Williams, but credit where it's due: The reborn heel has rescued himself by delivering some of the best performances in pro wrestling whilst squeezing into the WWE Title picture between reigning champ Cody Rhodes and Gunther.

This week, Sami was the special guest ref for a championship showdown between those rivals. That kicked off SmackDown, and it was well worth seeing both matches. That's right, both matches - Rhodes (ever the dignified babyface) demanded a restart once things went south due to Zayn's involvement. It was a hot story, and an excellent way to kick off the night.

SmackDown was better than last week's wonky effort by a mile. Both semi finals in the King and Queen Of The Ring tournaments hit some lofty heights for different reasons, Ricky Saints and Carmelo Hayes continued showing why Triple H can't resist putting them in the ring together, Danhausen's merriment continued behind the scenes, and there was just a better pace to the episode overall.

Not everything was fantastic, of course. Blake Monroe is still stuck in vignette purgatory, WWE has nothing worthwhile for Finn Bálor to do after moving him over from Raw, and the ongoing will he/won't he with Solo Sikoa rejoining The Bloodline is flat out dull. Worse, it looks like the writers might be interested in reuniting multiple factions for the hell of it.

Here's all the good and bad from Friday.