WWE SmackDown 8/16/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE SmackDown," the show that revolves around a necklace! As opposed to the other show, which revolves around a bracelet. Lots of jewelry-related feuds going in WWE right now. Anyway, here at WINC we are just as invested in who gets to wear the necklace as anyone else, and Friday night definitely gave us some strong "wearing the necklace" vibes, which we can't wait to talk about! We're going to talk about most things that happened Friday night, or at least touch on them, though I'm afraid nobody had anything to say about Blair Davenport vs. Naomi. You can find stuff about that match, as well as everything else that happened, on our "SmackDown" results page.

This column, however, is reserved for the things we particularly enjoyed or particularly cringed away from. Did we enjoy the tag team title No. 1 contender's match? Did we have issues with the opening Nia Jax/Tiffany Stratton segment? Are we just really, super into Carmelo Hayes? Now's your chance to find out! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/16/24 episode of "WWE SmackDown."

They say that variety is the spice of life, and that same principle applies to weekly professional wrestling shows. Not everything needs to be overly serious nor in fact should it be, as it's nice to have little comedic moments to break up storylines and angles that may lean more on the intense side.

The opening Women's Championship commemoration thrown by Tiffany Stratton for Nia Jax was certainly one of those comedic moments, and it was a refreshing way to open the show to set the fun and enjoyable atmosphere that lasted throughout the rest of the show. Jax and Stratton are very different from one another as characters in terms of their styles and the manner in which they view in-ring competition. To have that difference actually be acknowledged by having Jax dislike Stratton's choices of celebration decor and activities was a great choice making it easily digestible for the audience while nonetheless still getting the point across well. It created tension and dissension between Jax and Stratton as WWE continues to tease a Women's Money In The Bank cash-in from Stratton on Jax all the while as setting up Michin as Jax's next challenger by having her crash the festivities.

(Side note: I also want more screen time for Tiffany Stratton and Pretty Deadly as a trio in the future solely for the matching outfits they'd serve every week.)

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Friday night, Carmelo Hayes took on a familiar foe in Andrade. To say that Hayes sorely needed the win is an understatement — the man has only ever lost when it counted, and it has come to the point where even Jade Cargill admonished his embarrassing win-loss record. The two men entered the ring for yet another installation in their applauded rivalry, and Hayes shot his shot.

I'm glad to report that Hayes came out victorious in his match against Andrade, but that actually isn't the focus of this opinion. The match itself and its future implications are far more interesting.

Of course, Hayes and Andrade have — as many members of the internet wrestling community have noted — undeniable chemistry. Their styles of wrestling just work so smoothly with each other, and there are only a few moments where things look clunky or awkward. There were, admittedly, some places where things were not as clean as they could have been, but from my perspective, it seemed to be due to their sheer athleticism. Both men are absolutely explosive in their in-ring maneuvers, so it is not odd that Hayes might have overshot his position for a roll-up pin. Whatever small blunders the two men had was massively made up for with another electrifying match.

Hayes won via roll-up, and while I would be somewhat disappointed with the lack of definitive dominance from Hayes — again, at this point in his career, he sorely needs it — this actually presents a very interesting scenario. Hayes' unsatisfying victory may indicate that, given the incredible popularity of Hayes' and Andrade's matches, their feud is far from finished. This idea is corroborated by Hayes' pestering of Andrade post-match (Hayes as a bad winner fits so well with his character, and was a treat to watch tonight) and their subsequent brawl. The prospect of having more high-quality matches in the future is definitely something to be excited about, since this is one of the blue brand's stronger feuds. If Hayes and Andrade can continue what they've been doing — if they can continue having strong, stable matches with short but effective storytelling segments — then they will absolutely be elevated by the time this series of matches is over. In some sense, they're already elevated with the crowd. There is no logical excuse for the company to overlook these two talented individuals after the fine work they've already put in the ring, and the fine work they're expected to do. We are on the ground floor of something amazing, and the future implications of their feud — past their anticipated next match, think for their future in WWE — cannot be understated.

By the end of this feud, Hayes and Andrade will be completely different personalities, and the fact that we will watch it happen over the course of more segments and matches is something to get excited about. Melo did not miss tonight, Andrade is right there with him, and by the time the bell rings, they'll both be better for it.

Written by Angeline Phu

I have officially decided, as of Friday night and after what we've seen in AEW in recent weeks and months, that doing title matches ahead of a big premium live event or pay-per-view is officially my wrestling pet peeve. I won't bring AEW into this beyond that mention, but I think that's why the thought is at the forefront of my brain, with this week's announcements on "SmackDown" that Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu (I assume, he was still in a boot tonight when he attacked Roman Reigns) will defend their WWE Tag Team Championships against The Street Profits, and United States Champion LA Knight will clash with Santos Escobar over his gold. "SmackDown" next week in Washington, DC will have two title matches just over a week away from Bash in Berlin.

If Bash in Berlin already had a set card of five to six matches, I don't think I would find this as annoying as I do right now, but, as of this writing, there are only three matches announced for the PLE. GUNTHER versus Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes versus Kevin Owens for the gold, and a mixed tag match pitting Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest against Women's World Champion Liv Morgan and "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio. I'd imagine they'd want to fit a Nia Jax title match in there, maybe, and with how big of a deal Knight taking the United States Championship off Logan Paul was at SummerSlam and how over the man still is in front of crowds, you'd think his first title defense ever in WWE would be in front of a PLE crowd, and a pretty historic one, at that.

And while of course I think a match involving The Bloodline would never be on the pre-show and the tag titles deserve better than said pre-show, not having any matches on these kickoff shows, pre-shows, whatever you want to call them, is always such a pain for me. You could even put the United States Championship in the pre-show slow, closer to the beginning of the show so the arena is more full, but there's just so much time that's constantly being killed in these hour, two hour, heck for SummerSlam, it was THREE HOURS, kickoff events, that something interesting, like a match, should be filling some time.

Having champions put their titles on the line before a PLE that they, in theory, should be fighting to be on, is something that's really starting to irk me. Let these guys and gals have their big moments, and give them a big payday. If these matches are in Berlin, I'm extremely curious to see what WWE will cook up with only three announced matches and just a week left to go.

Written by Daisy Ruth

While I largely enjoyed Friday's episode of "SmackDown," there was run major problem running through basically the entire thing, which is that I don't believe any of these people who are about to challenge for championships are going to win championships.

This problem stems from having five of your nine main roster titles change hands over SummerSlam weekend. Not only did that move reinforce the idea that Triple H doesn't want to do title changes on "minor" PLEs, rendering title matches on those PLEs, largely toothless, it also almost completely reset WWE's slate of champions. Cody Rhodes currently has the longest main roster title reign at 132 days. Liv Morgan is behind him at 84. Every other championship has changed hands in the last two months, and five of the nine champions have yet to defend their belts (and new Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker only escaped that list because he had his first defense on Monday).

In other words, what we have here is a whole lot of people who are not losing their titles any time soon, because in general, you don't lose your title on the first defense, and in The Paul Levesque Era, you don't really have short title reigns, period. So while it was cool to see Michin jump Nia Jax and The Street Profits win a frankly awesome No. 1 contender's match against DIY, it's hard to get super invested because I know Michin and the Profits are losing. Same goes for Santos Escobar's attempt to dethrone LA Knight, and quite frankly, same goes for Kevin Owens' chances against Cody Rhodes, who will honestly shock me if he loses the Undisputed WWE Championship before he can fight The Rock for it at WrestleMania. That's all four of "SmackDown's" titles. So while individual segments and matches might be fun, it's hard to get excited in the long term about any of the blue brand's upcoming title matches.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Following a "did we expect anything else?" victory over Grayson Waller, Kevin Owens found himself at the receiving end of a beatdown by Waller and Austin Theory. Owens, in typical Owens grittiness, sent Waller through a PRIME Energy sponsorship shelf, before the numbers game of the company's weakest tag team somehow caught up to him. Who else would run in for the save, steel chair in hand, than the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, "The American Nightmare," the guy who pressured Owens into taking a title opportunity he didn't want last week, Cody Rhodes? It is so incredibly odd how bad this feud is. Both men are known for their in-ring talent and their strong characters, and yet they feel like they are surviving listlessly through the Friday night card. This feud should have been good, based on the reliable, stable characters involved. Perhaps, the strong characterization itself that is causing this feud to flop as hard as it is.

Rhodes and Owens are known for having these defined, grounded characters. So, when they begin to act out of character, like how they are in this feud, it is hard to ignore. Kevin Owens has one of the tightest grips on his character — which itself is dripping with sarcastic realism, see his position on the Ezekiel/Elias debate — and yet he acted extremely out of character when he simply handed Rhodes back his championship title with little protest. Rhodes is oddly passive, which is jarring considering his previous passion during his Bloodline feuds. Rhodes and Owens do not have chemistry as enemies (and they're the company's top babyfaces, so a heel or tweener turn isn't an option, apparently).

This whole feud feels unnatural. These segments don't feel real. Both men are acting noticeably out of character, and when this is combined with the logistical loopholes that needed to happen to book this feud, it makes for a painfully staged affair. There are so many things amiss here, that WWE can't even gaslight us into thinking this feud is good (much like Rhodes couldn't even gaslight Owens into willingly accepting a title opportunity.)

It is painfully obvious that "feud" only exists so both Rhodes and Owens can be on the Bash in Berlin card. Still, given the competitiveness of the professional wrestling industry, and the incredibly high standards for entertainment given the multitude of alternative programs, there really is no reason for WWE to become so lazy with this feud. This feud includes WWE's biggest draws, and yet their tensions are among the weakest on Friday nights, to the point where the world title feud is the most boring and unwatchable part of Friday nights. Rhodes, one of WWE's biggest draws — if not the top — is in a skippable feud.

I wanted to give this feud the benefit of the doubt, I really did! Given that this week was somehow even more awkward and less cohesive than last week's logistical blunders, however, there's more evidence to suggest that this feud is simply rotted.

Written by Angeline Phu

With incredibly heavy hearts after the loss of Afa Anoa'i earlier in the day, members of The Bloodline did him proud in the closing segment of "SmackDown." Solo Sikoa had said earlier in the night that should Roman Reigns regain the Ula Fala, he would recognize Reigns as "The Tribal Chief" and expected Tama Tonga to do the same. Meanwhile, the last two weeks, we've seen Tonga intensely looking at the Ula Fala like he was under its spell.

After arriving with the Ula Fala around his neck for the main event segment, Sikoa challenged Reigns to come and get it — which he definitively did. "The OTC" took out both Sikoa and Tonga before placing the Ula Fala around his own neck. Pure euphoria washed over him, like his father himself had placed it around his neck — but the moment quickly vanished as Jacob Fatu blindsided him from behind with a hip attack before the three men triple powerbombed Reigns through the announce desk. The show closed with them holding the ones up over Reigns' body in a powerful shot.

Perhaps it was a little soon for this to happen, but it was necessary. Reigns got to briefly become "The Tribal Chief" once more before having it snatched from his grasp. Right now, Reigns is all alone, and Sikoa is the one with the backing of family — though Jey Uso and the former "Honorary Uce" Sami Zayn have teamed up a couple times on Raw recently. Reigns was left looking like the dumb babyface with no friends instead of the man who ruled "SmackDown" for three years. Uso and Zayn probably won't allow that to stand for long and will look for a way to be traded back to the blue brand to continue this chapter of The Bloodline. The wheels are in motion to get us to Survivor Series, and The Bloodline train is very much still on the tracks.

Written by Samantha Schipman