WWE SmackDown 7/19/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show where you get put through the announce table, and you get put through the announce table, and everybody gets put through the announce table! In case it wasn't obvious, there was a bit of a sameness about this edition of blue brand programming that more than one of us noticed here at WINC, though it's possible some outside forces contributed to the feeling. We'll get into all of that, and also pretty much everything that happened on this week's show, though you should still check out our "SmackDown" results page if you need any information about Friday's goings-on.

That having been said, what did the WINC writing staff think about the latest display of dominance from the New Bloodline? Did the Logan Paul/LA Knight contract signing make us more excited for SummerSlam? And most importantly, are we finally getting that bedazzled pink MITB briefcase Tiffany Stratton promised us? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved from the 7/19/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

It seems odd to say, "Let's get this out of the way," as it pertains to the fact that Andrade vs. Carmelo Hayes was a banger-and-a-half, but my point here looms larger than just a great wrestling match. These two are awesome in their own respective rights and putting them together will likely never go afoul, so that simply is what it is. More importantly, with Andrade going over, is the fact that Hayes losing here and there this early in his main roster tenure IS ACTUALLY OKAY! I think we've all been conditioned to thinking that any young up-and-comer needs to be a dominant, impenetrable force for some lengthy, though indefinite, amount of time. But that thinking is wrong, wrong, wrong! Bill Goldberg be damned (no, really), in the name of suspending disbelief at a healthy rate, rather than to inexplicable levels, it's just fine for a talent like Hayes or anyone else to put on great showings while ultimately taking the 1-2-3.

Having said that, I do get the concern that some may have with a former NXT Champion the caliber of Hayes starting off his main roster career at a paltry 2-5-1 overall and 1-3-1 in singles matches. You worry, you see, on account of the PTSD we all have from he-who-shalt-not-be-named era, thinking that, despite all of this "NXT" glory, so-and-so means none-and-none when it comes to "Raw" or "SmackDown." But we have to let that go. And when you weight it all out, there SHOULD be a struggle for any "NXT" call-up, and even those who are brought in from elsewhere for their first WWE experience, especially if you want to lean into the whole "there are levels to this s***" mantra. There are levels. There should be levels. And let's not forget the old adage about getting over without going over. Hayes did that this week, and I have every confidence that he'll continue going forward. Losing early gives him room to grow, room to evolve, and perhaps even room to unleash a new layer of his character. The talent is there, as is the charisma, and neither is just disappearing anytime soon. Greater days for Hayes lie ahead, and we should all remain enthusiastic.

Written by Jon Jordan

The CyberStrike Microsoft outage caused all kinds of havoc on Friday, and it didn't seem like "SmackDown" (or its viewers) were spared. The show was lackluster save for an awesome match between Carmelo Hayes and Andrade, as well as Bayley going ham on Tiffany Stratton's briefcase. Major stars were definitely missing from the show, and it was noticeable — if you don't believe me, the main event included A-Town Down Under. This also may have contributed to Bianca Belair and Chelsea Green getting entrances longer than their match, though Sonya Deville and Zelina Vega had a 65-second match on "Raw," this week, so maybe not. At least Green made the show.

Next week's episode of "SmackDown" was filmed immediately after this week's episode since the performers will be traveling to Japan next Friday, assuming CyberStrike doesn't ... strike again. If next week's show is also lacking, you'll know why.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Friday's episode of "SmackDown" wasn't aggressively bad, but very few segments and matches over the course of the show seemed to really land, and in two cases, it was the result of some extremely odd choices in the women's division.

First of all, during the sit-down interview between Bayley and Nia Jax, Bayley brought up Jax taking her out of action years ago — not because she's dangerous, but because she's reckless. Jax took a strangely long time to respond, and when she did, she seemed flustered, eventually ending the interview prematurely. Was she actually surprised by what Bayley said, or are they doing something unexpected with this feud? I had just kind of assumed that we were getting a "nine years later" remix of Bayley and Jax's NXT Women's Championship match at "NXT" Takeover London back in 2015, which was all about Jax overpowering the smaller Bayley, who managed to outwrestle Jax and survive. I wouldn't blame either woman for not wanting to do the same thing again, but Jax's reaction Friday night made her seem insecure, and Bayley easily taking her out at ringside so she could destroy Tiffany Stratton's briefcase made her seem weak and ineffectual. Combined with the fact that she's suddenly Stratton's sidekick, it's a very odd way to present the woman who's actually challenging Bayley at SummerSlam, and if it's an intentional character choice, it's not one I really want to see from Jax, who's way more fun when she's wrecking people.

In a similar vein, I legitimately never thought I'd see the day Bianca Belair beat Chelsea Green with a roll-up. Again, I'm not mad about it, exactly — it just threw me off. Similar to Jax, Belair has been somewhat marginalized of late, which is unfathomable to think about; nonetheless, she and Jade Cargill have barely wrestled since losing their women's tag titles at Clash at the Castle, and neither appeared at Money in the Bank. I'm assuming this roil-up win was meant to be Belair getting her win back after Green rolled her up a few weeks ago to advance to the MITB ladder match, but again, that's not why people pay money to see Belair wrestle. We want her to wreck people, and we want Cargill to wreck people, and there's just been a general absence of these huge strong women wrecking people recently and I don't understand why.

Anyway, hopefully this was just a weird one-off thing for both Jax and Belair, because I'd hate to see either of them lose what makes them attractions.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

This truly pains me to write, but I need to give credit where credit is due: Logan Paul did not just cook LA Knight in Friday's contract signing segment; he prepped, smoked, grilled, and fried him.

Paul and Knight met in the ring to make their long-awaited United States Championship match official for SummerSlam 2024, and I was fully expecting to be on Knight's side. For what it's worth, "The Megastar" came out with some strong verbal offense in the beginning — it wasn't his best work, but it's not too difficult to get the rhetorical upper hand on a blonde clown when their opening statement includs a "SpongeBob" reference. Knight brought up their Money in the Bank qualifier match from late June 2024, and relished in Paul's pinfall loss.

Paul was stunned into silence. He looked at Knight. There was something distinctly different about the look in this Youtuber-turned-superstar's gaze. Paul began to speak, and Knight still has yet to recover from the ensuing verbal humiliation and shattered sense of identity.

It's one thing to bring in real-life relationships and make comparisons to others in the industry, but Paul attacked Knight's very essence, transforming his derogatory statements into ones that rang true. Paul called Knight a bodybuilder with a tan and catchphrase — which is broadly true, and while it might not be a death sentence in and of itself, Paul's delivery severely demoted Knight's entire image. Paul spun the facts of Knight's condition in a way that undermined everything Knight has built his brand on: big muscles, a loud personality, and simple catchphrases. This is a distinct dig — it does not rely on incident or coincidences. It deplores the very thing that makes a superstar a superstar. For such a laughable United States Champion, Paul was refreshingly brutal.

Paul's delivery only added to his words' effectiveness. It was clear Knight struck a nerve when he brought up Paul's pinfall loss in their Money in the Bank qualifier, and Paul's nerves were audibly frayed as he berated "The Megastar." To some, this may make Paul's retort a more reactive thing — this would feasibly undermine his message. However, we've never seen such intense performances from Paul, even in his world championship match against Rhodes. I think Paul's capacity for an emotional performance has grown significantly, and to his ultimate benefit, as the heightened fervor has cemented this week's segment as one of Paul's best promos yet.

The rest of the segment was nothing special; Knight mentioned Jake Paul's eagerness to square off against Mike Tyson in order to highlight the United States Champion's cowardice, and probably due to recent cyber shenanigans, there wasn't even a table for either man to flip at the endt. As the show continued, however, I could not help but acknowledge Paul's incredible growth.

Did I enjoy a Logan Paul segment? Yes, I think I did.

Written by Angeline Phu

Never in a million years would I have thought that my favorite part of this edition of "SmackDown" would be property damage, but here we are.

The match between Tiffany Stratton and Michin was solid and fun to watch, but Bayley taking out Nia Jax destroying Stratton's Money In The Bank briefcase as a means of capturing her attention to allow Michin to roll up Stratton is what made it entertaining and stand out. It was a great way to give a little extra television time to continue the build for the storyline between Bayley, Jax, and Stratton, especially with how close SummerSlam is, whilst simultaneously giving Michin a win she could really use without weakening Stratton too much. Michin has competed in several matches on both "SmackDown" and "WWE NXT" over the course of the past few weeks, and her win Friday night helps to legitimize her as a competitor when you consider that she has lost more of those matches than she has won.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

This week's main event match between Cody Rhodes/Kevin Owens and A-Town Down Under was fine, but nothing remotely memorable. It was a by-the-numbers formulaic WWE TV main event, which was perfectly acceptable because we all knew the actual main event was going to involve an attack from the New Bloodline, and sure enough, there they were. Unfortunately, it was extremely obvious what was going to happen from that point on, and I'm worried that I already know exactly what's going to happen at SummerSlam.

When Sikoa's music hit, he came out to the ring with Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, but without Jacob Fatu. This instantly telegraphed the fact that the babyfaces were going to gain the upper hand, only to be foiled by a surprise "Samoan Werewolf" attack, which is exactly what happened when Rhodes and Owens tried to put Sikoa through the announce table, just like Sikoa has done to Paul Heyman and Randy Orton in recent weeks.

After that, again: by-the-numbers. The Bloodline trapped Cody while they beat up Owens, just like they trapped him last week while they beat up Orton, but this time they put Rhodes himself through the announce table, giving Owens an Irish Whip into the ring post with a chair wrapped around his neck instead. And that's it — ones in the air, show off the air, Bloodline victorious. My guess is that Hikuleo debuts sometime in the next couple weeks to make Cody's SummerSlam odds seem really impossible, but he'll beat them anyway (because what, they're going to make Sikoa world champion?) and then Roman Reigns will come out. Right? Am I missing something?

A lot of WWE storytelling is extremely predictable, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Predictablity is fine, even preferable — if it's in the service of a good story. This is ... not a good story, at least not so far, and it could really use a twist or two to spice things up between now and August. I understand that WWE is trying to make it seem like Sikoa could win even though he's definitely not going to, but if that's the problem you're having to solve, the best solution might actually be "invent a time machine and stop yourself from booking Cody vs. Solo for the title at SummerSlam in the first place."

Written by Miles Schneiderman