8 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (July 16)
Vince McMahon ribs WWE fans; Big E teases a Universal Title push; Finn Bálor jumps to SmackDown.
It's amazing what live crowds do to wrestling shows.
Even wrestling's anti-WWE portion must've been curious to see what this week's SmackDown would be like. Would the company deliver major surprises aplenty and hype Sunday's Money In The Bank pay-per-view as the biggest thing going? Or, would Friday's show end up being a disappointment that sapped fans of their energy.
The good news is that WWE did deliver a surprise. Better yet, they didn't over-egg the pudding - SmackDown was a solid pro wrestling show. It had more matches than segments, and any in-ring promos booked ranged between rapid to fairly short anyway. What's more, creative did a nice job of hinting at what's to come for MITB.
A new Universal Title contender was teased, everyone on the roster worked hard, and even Vince McMahon himself stopped by to take the p*ss out of his audience (there's a joke in there somewhere...). There's no sense in hiding the obvious. That 'Ups' count speaks for itself.
SmackDown was worth your time. Whilst not everything hit its mark, there was way more good than bad on offer...