WWE SmackDown: 5 biggest mistakes WWE made on the episode after Extreme Rules (July 16, 2019)

Extreme Rules was followed by a mixed episode of Raw which immediately gave us the challengers for the brand’s top two championships.

Unlike the hurriedness Raw displayed, SmackDown was a bit calmer as only the SmackDown Women’s Championship challenger was revealed at the event while a feud was teased for the WWE Championship.

The mid-card championship did not show up at the event, while the Women’s Tag Team Championships were finally defended on the show.

Even though SmackDown tried to put on a better show than Raw did, they failed to do so in a few departments.

In this article, we will look at the 5 biggest mistakes the creatives committed on this episode of SmackDown, and what they could mean going forward.

#5 Cesaro’s loss

During the opening segment of the blue brand, Cesaro made his way out to demand a rematch against Aleister Black. Black had beaten Cesaro convincingly at Extreme Rules this past Sunday in one of the best matches of the night.

On Monday Night, Cesaro got a chance to become the number one contender for the Universal Championship on Raw, but could not win the Battle Royal during the show.

While The Swiss Superman tried to take out Black in his second shot, The Dutch Destroyer once again managed to land the Black Mass for a clean victory.

The match was once again very good even though it was much shorter, but it did not make sense to hand Cesaro another victory to the newcomer so soon.

Cesaro himself has returned to singles competition after a long time and deserves to have a story of his own where he can take out mid-card faces to reach to the top where he could meet Black as his final obstacle before aiming for the WWE Championship.

See WWE Smackdown Results, Highlights of event, & more on WWE Smackdown Results page

#4 Bayley’s next challenger

Moon deserves the opportunity and much more spotlight

Ember Moon was scheduled to face Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in a tag team match with a partner of her choice. Moon revealed her new tag team partner, Bayley.

The heels barely even got going before The Hugger took out Deville with a Bayley-to-Belly, and The War Goddess hit The Eclipse to take the win.

While the match was short and fun, it did nothing for Rose and Deville, who seemed to be getting a push some months ago but are down at the bottom once again.

All this segment did was announce Bayley’s next challenger as she stated that she wanted to challenge Ember Moon.

This was a lousy way to set up a championship match as WWE seemed to fail in setting up a match between two babyfaces. While Moon seems to be the best singles competitor in the SmackDown women’s locker room, they could have done much more to make her get more spotlight before inserting her into the championship match.

The way this match has been booked makes the result more or less obvious.

#3 Apollo’s win

Apollo deserves some bigger matches and victories

There is nothing wrong with Apollo Crews winning. It’s the manner WWE usually hands him his victories is what’s completely wrong.

While Andrade played the perfect heel and went after Crews before the bell rang, he was unable to retain momentum and Crews quickly snuck in a roll-up to steal an upset victory.

Some would believe that this was a replay of what happened on Monday Night where Cederic Alexandar rolled up Drew McIntyre for an upset victory.

While it will help Crews to get a win over a bigger star, it would have been better if the two men had gotten a longer match where Crews would have gotten to show his skills more even if he would have lost at the end.

Gone are the days when fans only counted victories during a superstar’s build, and are now focused on how good they can perform and hold up a match for the ultimate winner.

On the other hand, Andrade should not be losing matches now, especially after losing his chance to win the Intercontinental Championship some weeks ago.

#2 Women’s Tag Team Championship

The IIconics haven't had the best title reign

Something rarer than Brock Lesnar’s Raw appearance showed up on Tuesday night, as The IIconics finally showed up to defend their Women’s Tag Team Championships against the team of Asuka and Kairi Sane.

While fans geared up to finally watch a decent battle between these two teams and hoping that a title change would take place, they got neither of the two.

As soon as The IIconics felt they couldn't get going against The Kabuki Warriors, Billie Kay saw her opportunity and ran, taking a count-out.

This clearly showed that WWE is not interested in taking the Women’s Tag Team titles seriously at the moment, and would rather invest in the 24/7 Championship.

It’s possible that WWE will finally build these two teams to face each other at SummerSlam and a title change will take place at the event, but the way things are going, fans will lose interest in the titles sooner than later.

#1 Shane McMahon & Kevin Owens

This could result in a match between the two at SummerSlam

WrestleMania 34 gave us an epic match where the team of Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Owens has always gotten in trouble with the authorities as he is their blue-eyed boy one day, and against them the next.

While Shane McMahon is busy jumping from one feud to another for no apparent reason, he has hogged most of the top superstars in WWE today for his spotlight.

This has become rather irritating over the past few months as Shane has ruined The Miz, Drew McIntyre, Elias, and several other superstars while remaining prominent.

WWE is now on the verge of making a grave mistake by throwing in KO Shane’s way once again and it looks like the two men will do battle at SummerSlam, which is only a month away.

While Shane has remained a decent entertainer over the years, he should use himself more as a manipulator and a manager of the heels rather than get into competition with top superstars himself while ignoring others.