Best & Worst of WWE SmackDown: Cody Rhodes/Paul Heyman, Massive debut and return, Botched main event

Friday Night SmackDown emanated from Orlando, Florida, last night, marking a stark improvement from the average quality of the shows that the blue brand has produced in recent memory. Unfortunately, an unforgivably awful finish marred the overall viewing experience.

Nevertheless, SmackDown featured another successful instance of the United States Championship Open Challenge, a banging opening segment featuring Cody Rhodes, The Vision, and Randy Orton, a good old Drew McIntyre rant interrupted by a returning former champion, and much more.

In this article, we shall determine the best and worst of SmackDown this week.

#Best: Cody Rhodes' compelling dynamic with Paul Heyman and Randy Orton

Paul Heyman opened last night's SmackDown, and in an incredibly entertaining way, as always, talked a whole lot without really saying anything. As he referenced Brock Lesnar multiple times, he was interrupted by the Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes (set to take on World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins at Crown Jewel), who sought some clarification regarding the same.

Heyman said he understood why Rhodes was concerned: Lesnar being back meant everyone was in danger. As he said that, however, Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker surrounded and then entered the ring, and Paul Heyman made light of the fact that the danger he spoke of wasn't even important, for Cody was in a more imminent form of being in it.

The American Nightmare took the fight to The Vision by himself, and after gaining the upper hand, the numbers game caught up. Randy Orton, having been off TV last week, returned to make the save, also delivering an RKO to Bronson Reed. Rhodes may need some more backup leading up to Crown Jewel, and a firm alliance heading into WarGames, but as for last night, The Viper was enough to even the odds.

#Worst: The main event, especially its finish, on last night's SmackDown

While SmackDown opened with a bang, it went off the air in the worst way possible: with two back-to-back botched pinfalls. Here's the kicker: in a title match. The match itself was less than fine; sloppy at times, and not unexpectedly so, but one where the competitors worked hard.

However, the ending featured Jade Cargill deliver the "Eye of the Storm," impressive and yet unfortunately lacking in the desired impact for obvious reasons, with the recipient being Nia Jax. Tiffany Stratton was supposed to break up the pin with a kick to Cargill (and presumably steal the win), but Jax kicked out because she probably thought that Stratton wouldn't make it in time.

Jax kicked out right before Stratton dropkicked Cargill. However, Stratton then proceeded to the planned finish: just pinning Jax after kicking Cargill to steal the win. However, the referee did not count to three, even with Jax's shoulders down for like a six-count (and babbling some words), because in all likelihood, she assumed that the finish would make sense with Jax having kicked out just seconds ago. Stratton then hit her Moonsault to ultimately land the win.

The entire fiasco perfectly (and hopefully) capped off a horrible feud, which had ill-defined characters with ill-defined motivations, no narrative arc even remotely compelling, awful promos, and below-average in-ring action that culminated tonight in utter disaster. This is what happens when the three people involved in a World Title picture are two inexperienced women and one infamous for sloppiness and botches, while the writing team has less either imagination or interest than a 90-year-old does in rap music.

#Best: The Sami Zayn United States Championship Open Challenge on SmackDown

As predicted, Sami Zayn's United States Championship win has been a major part of steadily revitalizing SmackDown, with his subsequent open challenges not just delivering some of the best TV matches of the year, but also serving storytelling as well as presentation purposes.

So far, he had given incredible showings to John Cena (passing the torch and paying him back poetically), Rey Fenix (giving Fenix the landmark singles performance he needed), and Carmelo Hayes (furthering Hayes' character and dynamic with The Miz). Last night, someone he had interacted with very recently at NXT Homecoming answered his open challenge.

Je'Von Evans, one of NXT's brightest and youngest prospects, is, in certain ways, similar to Sami Zayn. He delivered a stellar performance against Zayn last night, and notably, fans already know and connect with him. While Evans deserves a lot of credit for showing up and showing out last night, Sami Zayn's work over the past few weeks has been brilliant. Given the narrative arcs being progressed, he seems to be prominently pitching to and working alongside the creative team.

Best/Worst: Drew McIntyre's character; Jacob Fatu's return on SmackDown

Drew McIntyre, following his loss to Cody Rhodes at Wrestlepalooza, came out to address Rhodes and the WWE management on this week's episode of SmackDown, who, in Drew's mind, are basically the same or at least have firmly aligned interests. He was then rebuffed by Nick Aldis for making such claims. But here's the thing: The Scottish Psychopath is absolutely correct. The finish to the main event of Wrestlepalooza, in fact, had many fans confused as to the behavior and decisions of the wrestlers and the referee.

Why is Drew McIntyre being positioned as an anti-authority anti-hero? Especially, at a time when WWE authority is, in fact, steadily losing its goodwill. And why are the characters of WWE's main stars lacking in consistency? There have been rumors that both McIntyre and Rhodes had pitched Randy Orton accidentally costing Cody the WWE Championship at Wrestlepalooza. When that didn't happen, it ended up making Rhodes' character look weak, and McIntyre just looked stupid, essentially being cheated out of the title, as he rightfully claims.

Unironically, we can apply the same two adjectives to WWE Creative here as well. Finally, all of this comes at a time when Rhodes has just won back the WWE Universe after his absence, and McIntyre's great work in building up the feud initially. When Aldis rebuffed McIntyre, it came off as an authority figure shutting down a legitimate grievance shared by fans, too. The only logical way ahead would be for McIntyre to be proven right, with at least WWE management (in kayfabe), if not Cody Rhodes as well, being guilty of his accusations.

WWE most likely won't go that way, however, and that is what leaves a sour taste in a fan's mouth. And if a returning Jacob Fatu is the next program for a McIntyre on SmackDown, it is one where no man can take the L, because they have both been made to look like trash over the past few months.