8 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (June 19)

2. Big E In General

Big E vs. Daniel Bryan was excellent. If it was a singles match, it'd stand as one of SmackDown's finest of the year. They have excellent chemistry, their combined athleticism helped them keep an incredible pace, and there was enough great stuff within their 11:35 run to suggest a full-on one-on-one would steal any show it was booked on.

It's always great to see Big E come out of his shell and deliver in a singles environment. All three New Day members are fine wrestlers, and they've had dozens of exciting tag and six-man bouts over the years, but the group's existence means we rarely get to see them in situations like this. It's an acceptable sacrifice, because The New Day are great, but how cool would it be to see an E singles run, with the big man pulling out bangers like this every other week?

E worked as hard as Bryan, who did everything to make his opponent look like a million dollars. He lost, but in hanging with Bryan, the former Mr. Langston established himself as a guy capable of going toe-to-toe with main event talents. He's a star in the making. Let's hope for more of this in the future.