7 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (July 10)
1. Irredeemable Trash
Mark "complains about James Ellsworth" off on your SmackDown Ups & Downs bingo cards, because this was the absolute pits.
Asuka was, for the second consecutive week, booked into a situation that should've delivered decisive revenge on Ellsworth and Carmella. It was a lumberjack match this time. The entire women's division sans Charlotte surrounded the ring (most of whom hate 'The Chin That Eats The Pin'), meaning the odds were stacked so heavily against Ellsworth, he'd be killed instantly.
He wasn't. Like last week, Jimbo found several escape avenues throughout the bout, with his chicanery provoking a brawl around the lumberjacks. This allowed Carmella to hand him a can of hairspray in the confusion, but Ellsworth accidentally knocked his golden ticket down, got himself trapped in the Asuka Lock, and tapped.
Nothing about it was entertaining, with James once again proving himself the most out-of-his-depth performer in WWE today. His "heel" tactics diluting 'The Empress'' victory, and the fact that Asuka's name ended in the winner's column meant nothing anyway, as 'Mella laid her out after the match.
This feud would be more tolerable if Ellsworth had even a semblance of performance ability, but his presence is poisoning the whole women's division.