The biggest winners and losers of last night's SmackDown Live (July 9, 2019)

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

A wild Shinsuke Nakamura appears! And hey, Finn Balor is back too! You know, the Intercontinental Champion who hasn't been on TV for weeks.

As frustrating as this match was, with the stale, formulaic trope of a champion losing a non-title match, and as unlikely as Shinsuke Nakamura is to take the title from Finn Balor as a result, this was a step in the right direction for the former.

Nakamura spent the first half of 2019 in a puzzling feud with Rusev for the United States Championship before forming an impromptu tag team with him and then disappearing entirely. Recovery needed to start somewhere. This was a good place.

A SummerSlam program between Balor and Nakamura would be welcome for both guys.

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Winners: Asuka and Kairi Sane

Speaking of underutilized Superstars, Asuka and Kairi Sane were back last night. It was only in a short backstage segment, but it did its job, finally setting up the feud with the IIconics for the tag team titles, likely to take place at SummerSlam.

There can be no beating around the bush with this. The IIconics are a joke and have made the Tag Team titles such a joke that they feel like they should be decommissioned. Anything less than Asuka and Sane squashing them is unacceptable. Only then can the titles begin the long road to recovery and if Asuka and Sane lose, there's little coming back, such jokes are the IIconics.