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From Shane McMahon & Elias ambushing Kevin Owens to Roman Reigns' mysterious attacker's identity being revealed, this week's edition of WWE SmackDown Live (6th August 2019) featured a lot of contrasting moments.
As a whole, I felt that the blue brand missed bits and pieces of what makes RAW somewhat engaging to watch these days. Except for the final cliffhanger from last night's show, it felt that most of the episode was a standard, one-dimensional episode of SmackDown Live.
Here are a few interesting observations from this week's edition of SmackDown Live:
#3 The Trish Stratus-Charlotte Flair promo brings light to the show's long-running problem
Why does it always feel as if SmackDown Live shies away from taking risks to solve the root of their problems? Ironically, the blue brand was known for taking risks following the 2016 WWE Draft.
Focusing back to last night, both Charlotte Flair and Trish Stratus engaged in what seemed like a highly-controlled, back-and-forth dialogue.
We could have seen them address major plot points from their feud, or even a brawl would have been better than seeing Trish Stratus slapping Charlotte Flair without the latter responding in any form.
I have said this countless times before, but SmackDown Live's recent run showcases the fact that their booking tends to be relatively safe when compared to other shows, including Monday Night RAW.
Undoubtedly, the Trish Stratus-Charlotte Flair promo from last night showcased the same aforementioned problem with the blue brand.
The lead writers of the blue brand have tried to implement some change, but that only shows up in bits and pieces, and some of it has been quite bad too (Shelton Benjamin, anybody?).
Nevertheless, let us hope that this Sunday's dream match between Trish Stratus and Charlotte Flair lives up to everyone's expectations, to say the least.
See WWE Smackdown Results, Highlights of the event, & more on WWE Smackdown Results page.
#2 Shane McMahon just lessened the stakes for his match against Kevin Owens at SummerSlam
The Kevin Owens-Shane McMahon storyline has drawn some positive attention from fans during the past few weeks. But last night might have hampered the expectations heading into SummerSlam.
As a segment, there weren't any new plot points that were established for this feud. Shane McMahon and Elias ambushed Kevin Owens during the show, but the 'Best in the World' did not put his career on the line despite that topic being the focal point of their segment last night.
This also means that Kevin Owens' potential victory at SummerSlam would not do anything major to stop Shane McMahon and his clique from hogging up TV time every week.
Therefore, the fans have very little to invest in when it comes to their match this Sunday. Sure, Owens has put his career on the line, but we all know that he is not going to stop feuding with Shane McMahon anytime soon.
Do you also feel that the Shane-Owens segment from last night was a mistake?
#1 Rowan being Roman Reigns' mystery attacker poses another major cliffhanger for SummerSlam
First of all, I felt that the final segment from last night's SmackDown Live was impressively produced.
Of course, when Roman Reigns confronted Buddy Murphy in the locker room, we thought we knew what was coming. But in a way, WWE subverted expectations by casting Murphy as a bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Finally, it was revealed that Rowan happened to be the mystery attacker all along. What made things even more interesting is that people were betting on Daniel Bryan or Buddy Murphy to be the culprit in the end.
No one considered Rowan in the first place, and now we are left with two interesting takeaways: either Rowan acted on Bryan's orders, or he simply went rogue and did things on his own.
WWE often slots pay-per-views as events where feuds culminate in matches, but with a cliffhanger like this on the final main roster show before SummerSlam, it seems unlikely that Roman Reigns vs. Rowan will be the conclusion of this saga.
What do you think will happen at SummerSlam 2019?
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