6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (June 23)

Liv Morgan returns; WWE crowns Undisputed Women's Tag Champs; The Usos rule SmackDown.

The Usos Solo Sikoa
WWE.com

It was always going to be tough to top last week's memorable Bloodline split. Knowing that, and with one eye trained on next week's jaunt to the UK, WWE decided to keep Roman Reigns on ice and let others bask in the spotlight. That proved to be a shrewd move overall.

The Usos naturally took centre stage and explained their actions, but creative made their brother Solo Sikoa look like a monster before closing the show with some more stereo superkicks. Elsewhere, Liv Morgan made a surprisingly-quick return to action, WWE unified both sets of Women's Tag-Team Titles (which was overdue), and LA Knight picked up a momentum-boosting win heading into Money In The Bank.

Not everything was great though.

Formulaic chat show b*llocks weighed things down, and someone seriously needs to have a word about Charlotte Flair's direction. She's a big star, sure, but this babyface bid is frankly awkward and helping nobody. SmackDown's piped-in boos were rather obvious too.

Here's all the good and bad from a Roman-less edition that didn't suffer without its focal point and Undisputed Champ.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.