5 awesome things which happened on SmackDown Live this week - 17 July 2018

Have you ever been promised a lively, action-packed three hour broadcast of WWE's flagship product, but only to find out that if anyone knows how to waste three hours of your day with storylines and matches that make no sense, it the Raw creative team. Then you are not alone, we have a simple solution for you - JUST WATCH SMACKDOWN LIVE!

If anyone still considers SmackDown Live inferior to Raw in 2018, that person probably stopped watching WWE a long time ago, as the blue brand offers something for everyone every single damn week.

And this week, SmackDown Live was a worthy broadcast that consisted of dream matches, well put together segments and a conclusion that had people saying; "where the hell was this Randy Orton for the last three freaking years?!".

And while the episode was not perfect, as nothing is in wrestling, after watching three hours of nothingness on Raw last night - SmackDown Live is that show people look forward to as it cleanses their minds of WWE's terrible booking. On SmackDown you can sit back, relax and watch Randy Orton try to rip another man's ear off, yeah you read that right.

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#1 Another dream match was given away on TV

This has SummerSlam main event potential

Andrade 'Cien' Almas is a future World Champion, and if WWE doesn't make him a World Champion, it's really their loss, as the man has all the potential in the world to be the face of the company.

And this week his crafty manager Zelina Vega approached AJ Styles backstage and challenged him to face Almas in a match later in the night, to which Styles said; "I do my talking in the ring" and Vega replied; "Almas does his talking in the ring too".

That segment only proves both men would be a perfect fit for Raw as Kurt Angle loves to "settle things in the ring".

Anyway, the fact that WWE gave away this match on SmackDown Live and not even in the main event of the night was kind of a shocker, as looking at the competitors involved in this match, it would have been perfect for SummerSlam, but hopefully WWE is slowly building Almas' rise to the top of the blue brand.

The match was what you would expect if you pitted these two men against each other in WWE 2k18, as there were heavy strikes, back-flips for days, and agility that would make you question whether AJ Styles is over 40, since the man is lightning fast.

The only real complaint is the booking of this match, as Styles locked in the calf crusher on Almas, and Almas tapped out faster than you could imagine.

Why would WWE sacrifice the credibility and momentum of Almas in such a cheap fashion? No one knows, but if that results in character development for El Idolo then do your best WWE.

#2 The Miz and Daniel Bryan kick-start their long-awaited programme

Anyone else finds that head just plain creepy?

No one wanted to see Daniel Bryan team up with Shane McMahon at WrestleMania, no one wanted to see Daniel Bryan take on Big Cass in two disastrous matches, and no one wanted to see Daniel Bryan and Kane lose at Extreme Rules to two men that like to hit people with hammers.

And thank heavens that WWE has finally given the people what they wanted for almost two years - Daniel Bryan vs The Miz.

This is a rivalry that begun all the way back in NXT, not the NXT we know and love today, but the crappy looney tunes version no one likes to talk about.

This was a feud that has been building for almost a decade now, and this may be WWE's last chance to book the perfect blow-off match that WWE aficionados have been fantasizing about for so many years.

And it seems as if the creative team has already started building towards that fantasy match, as this week's episode of SmackDown Live included a brilliant segment heralded by the Miz himself as he held a funeral for Team Hell No.

This whole skit was incredibly enchanting as Miz laid down a violent verbal assault on Daniel Bryan and Kane, this prompted Bryan to come out as he couldn't take any more of Miz's brutally honest remarks.

From then on the usual stuff happened, Bryan beat the living daylights out of the self-proclaimed A-lister, the paul bearers got caught up in the storm and Kane's mannequin head was creepily just there.

This sets the tone for this programme as Miz and Bryan have one of the best fleshed out backstories in terms of narrative build and thus allows them to do the one thing that is left to cap off this fantastic rivalry - fight.

#3 Sanity and The New Day shine

Major props to New Day for giving Sanity the momentum they need

Although rumors are circulating of The New Day splitting up every day of the week - when Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods step through that curtain it's hard to deny that they don't shine as a well-oiled machine or pancake throwing machine in this instance.

And even if you find the pancake throwing Booty O product placement overdone and over the top, it still manages to ignite a chuckle from time to time.

While on the other hand Sanity is a team that is the polar opposite of The New Day as they thrive off chaos, beating up people for no reason and look like they belong on the set of Mad Max, you know they are really 'original.'

On this week's episode of SmackDown Live, New Day veteran Kofi took on Sanity head honcho Eric Young in a blistering match.

This match might have used the usual tropes that happen during every singles match involving factions, but it was inherently fun and just enjoyable to watch as Young and Kingston pulled off some daring offenses that thrilled the audience.

This match only further adds to the complaint that it is truly unfortunate that Kofi Kingston has not received a huge push by now, as the man has the charisma and in-ring ability to be World Champion at some point in his career.

But Kofi being Kofi naturally made Young look great in this match, this only brightens Sanity's star, as they rampage through the SmackDown Live tag team division.

At this point, the only thing left to make Sanity a force to be reckoned with on SmackDown Live is their missing link - Nikki Cross, she will hopefully join her crazed buddies on the blue brand soon.

#4 Jeff Hardy and Shinsuke Nakamura thrill

The main event that was better than expected.

No more compliments could be accredited to the booking of Jeff Hardy vs Shinsuke Nakamura at Extreme Rules, as the unique nature of that match made it one of the highlights of the pay-per-view, and while most thought that Jeff Hardy would be taking time off due to his injuries, that was not the case.

The Charismatic Enigma kicked off this week's broadcast of the hottest main roster show in WWE by telling the WWE Universe he ain't Jeff Hardy, but he is Broken Jeff Hardy, thanks for the info Jeff, the face paint didn't give it away.

Hardy went on to say that he is going to basically beat the holy hell out of Nakamura later in the main event, to which Nakamura hilariously responded to his comments by saying Jeff Hardy hides behind all that face paint because he cries cause he lost at Extreme Rules, that was a good comeback, 'the king of low blows' went to further state that he will make 'the clown' cry in their match and finished off the interview with a patriotic quote.

Heel Nakamura is the best Nakamura, and Broken Jeff Hardy is more interesting than regular Jeff Hardy, so the only thing left was a splendid match to conclude a terrific episode of SmackDown Live.

Hardy and Nakamura did just that, they produced one of the better TV main events in recent memory, by utilizing their every move, several unique counters and their finishing moves to produce an entertaining match that Jeff looked primed to win until he was pulled out of the ring at the last second by a raging Viper.

#5 Randy Orton goes old school

Jeff should try and watch for those 'voices' inside Randy's head the next time

Hey guys, although WWE is PG, most believe the company said screw it for this segment, as Randy Orton assaulted Jeff Hardy in a TV 14 manner, and if it felt a little bit too crazy for you to watch a heel being a heel, why are you watching wrestling in the first place?

This is the freaking Randy Orton people have been waiting to see for almost half a decade, as the watered down babyface Orton doesn't hold a candle to heel Orton, as WWE let The Apex Predator off the leash on SmackDown Live, and what people got was a vicious, relentless beat-down that only further proved that SmackDown creative have more freedom than Raw's.

Orton slammed Hardy's head into the steel steps with no remorse, threw him all around ringside, DDT'd him off the announce table and nearly ripped his ear off. This scene was brutal, messy and nothing like what WWE has produced in months, as this had fans asking why can't this booking be prevalent in every programme.

And for #BringBackTheAttidtueEra peeps out there, WWE did this for you, as this was a more violent Orton that fans would remember - with nostalgic intent punting men and women, RKO'ing retired veterans and just been an overall world class badass heel.

This is the Randy Orton the WWE Universe needs, and that is exactly what the creative team has realised.