Opinion: The biggest winners and losers of last night's SmackDown (July 2)

A better opponent.
A better opponent.

Winners: Heavy Machinery

Heavy Machinery defeated Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens and secured a title shot against Daniel Bryan and Rowan at Extreme Rules. Again, there's no chance that they're going to win, but it's a good way for them to get a bigger spotlight than they had been getting before.

I'm doubtful of their ability to put in a world-shattering performance that makes them at Extreme Rules, but Daniel Bryan is as good an opponent to work with as any. We'll see what happens.


Loser: Nikki Cross

Nikki Cross wins on Raw and then loses on SmackDown. And while this won't set her back too much, this match still didn't need to happen. It's stuff like this that adds up over time and makes fans stop caring about a wrestler because the push is so inconsistent.

It also highlights another problem with the "wild card" rule. Hopefully, this is going to end when Eric Bischoff is fully in his position opposite Paul Heyman on the red brand. It makes little sense to have those two in charge of each show if talent is just going to jump around and render the brand split pointless.