WWE SmackDown: 4 biggest mistakes WWE made on this week's episode (July 23, 2019)

Fresh off the success of the Raw Reunion, WWE once again turned its focus to the blue brand, which has been delivering much more solid shows more consistently than the red brand.

With Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens in the same building, we were all geared up for some fiery mic work followed by a match full of disadvantages for the babyfaces.

Other than that, we were promised the challenger for Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship, and the promise was well delivered by the creatives. However, they somehow managed to mess up the feud which will unfold for the Women’s Championship at SummerSlam.

Keeping all that in mind, we have come up with a list of 4 mistakes which WWE should have avoided on this week’s episode of SmackDown, and how these mistakes can impact the storylines going forward.

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#4 Inserted HBK into the feud

One of the highlights of SmackDown Live this week was the spotlight and screentime the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels received.

HBK joined The Miz in the squared circle for an episode of Miz TV. Miz wasted little time asking his guest his take on the argument that Raw Reunion took opportunities away from younger Superstars.

While the two were at it, Dolph Ziggler interrupted the proceedings and went on to say that if he ever becomes one of those "happy to be there" guys, he should be put out of his misery.

Michaels took his own shot at Ziggler, calling him a second-rate Shawn Michaels. Things heated up and a scuffle ensued.

While having HBK on television in any segment is surely great, inserting him at this time makes things feel odd as the segment seemed more like a feud between Ziggler and Michaels with nothing to do with The Miz.

Unless WWE is planning to have Michaels as the Special Guest Referee at SummerSlam for a match between Miz and Ziggler, they made a huge mistake by making fans imagine a feud between Ziggler and Michaels rather than the Miz.

#3 Ember Moon’s heel turn

Ember Moon and Charlotte Flair were booked to compete in a match on Tuesday Night right after Moon was announced as Bayley’s challenger for SummerSlam last week.

After a decent match between the two women, Moon managed to score a surprise pinfall victory over The Queen after a distraction from SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley.

Even though it seemed like Moon and Bayley were on the same page, Moon turned on Bayley and shoved her into the ring where she met a big boot from Flair. Moon then went on to deliver an Eclipse to both the women one by one, clearly showing that she was the lone wolf in all this.

Turning Moon heel for just one match doesn’t make much sense as it seems like Bayley won’t be losing her title to her. WWE could have easily gone with the face vs face route for this bout.

What seems to be happening is that the creatives are probably going to add Charlotte to the mix and commit another big mistake just to have The Queen perform at SummerSlam.

#2 The non-title rematch

Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston had an A-grade segment after Kofi handpicked the Apex Predator to be his challenger for SummerSlam. Everything about the segment was top-notch, but WWE couldn’t help but ruin the moment.

Just when Randy Orton was walking up the ramp, Samoa Joe’s music hit as the former United States Champion made his way out for a non-title Extreme Rules rematch. Joe hasn’t had the best win-loss record in recent times and WWE shouldn’t be wasting him like this.

Just as Kingston was getting ready to pick up another win over Joe, Orton slid into the rope for an RKO, but Kingston dodged it. Joe grabbed hold of The Viper and ate an RKO of his own. Kingston then delivered Trouble in Paradise to send a message of his own to his SummerSlam opponent.

The entire segment before this fell apart due to the creative’s lazy booking in which Joe was just thrown in to kill some time for a no-contest and Kingston again managed to end up as the last man standing amongst the heels.

#1 Booked Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens

After the opening segment of SmackDown, where Shane McMahon spoke negatively about Kevin Owens and his promises and KO replied in his signature way, Shane booked a match between Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens.

First of all, this clearly showed how Shane still keeps focusing on his previous foes, as he had his eyes on The Miz while he was in a feud with Reigns, and is now picking on Reigns even though he is clearly in a feud with Kevin Owens.

Second of all, the booking immediately gave away what might happen later in the night when the match main event’s as we were certain neither Reigns nor Owens would take the loss.

Instead of ending the segment with Reigns and Owens wiping out Elias, McIntyre, and Shane, WWE should have booked a six-man tag team match after Shane’s interference and added Cedric Alexander to the mix.

This would have allowed fans to get a clear winner at the end of the night, and also allowed Cedric to get some more screen time as he seems to be getting a push.