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Friday Night SmackDown Review - August 2, 2024

8/2/2024

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By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and Solo Sikoa Agreed to Fight in a Bloodline Rules Match at SummerSlam

We've seen pretty much everything from Rhodes and Sikoa over the last two months, so I wasn't exactly looking forward to their final face-off here. However, I was happy to see them add a Bloodline Rules stipulation to their SummerSlam match. That definitely makes matters more interesting. I always assumed Roman Reigns would return afterward, but now that there aren't any disqualifications, perhaps it happens during the match itself. This was a solid start to the show.

Andrade def. Carmelo Hayes

This was a rematch from a few weeks ago. Andrade won their original encounter, so I figured Hayes would avenge the loss in typical WWE fashion. I was surprised when he didn't, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'd be down for a third match where Hayes finally wins, but I also don't have an issue with Andrade continuing to build momentum with a string of wins. This was more really enjoyable stuff from these two and the crowd was into the action.

Santos Escobar def. Apollo Crews

Legado del Fantasma's issues with Crews and Baron Corbin started as part of Escobar's storyline with Andrade that started two months ago, but there's been zero follow-up on that since before two months ago, so now Legado are feuding with Crews and Corbin for no real reason other than to keep everyone involved busy. This was decent but didn't seem to serve a purpose other than to kill time. There's been no explanation as to why Crews and Corbin are still aligned.

LA Knight Crashed United States Champion Logan Paul's Homecoming

Paul got booed pretty heavily in his "hometown" and part of that has to be the backlash he received for those controversial comments he made on X yesterday. Paul was my original pick to retain at SummerSlam, but it would be tone-deaf of WWE to go with that outcome now. As for this segment, it was fine yet lame and paled in comparison to what it could have been. Paul could've gone after Paul for his various controversies over the years, but I'm sure he was limited in what he could say.

Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn by Disqualification

I've liked Belair and Cargill as a team over the last few months, but I still can't bring myself to care about the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship, especially since WWE has done nothing with Fyre and Dawn as champs. They had a well-worked match, but the disqualification finish was lame because it simply delays the inevitable. Blair Davenport's interference sets up a future six-man tag team match with her, Fyre and Dawn taking on Belair, Cargill and Naomi, but it was weird Naomi didn't come to Belair and Cargill's aid afterward.

The Bloodline (Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga) def. #DIY to Win the WWE Tag Team Championship

Poor #DIY. It was cool that Johnny Gargano got to headline SmackDown in his hometown, but it was obvious before the bell even rang that #DIY wasn't winning. They had a nice main event, but I don't see why it's necessary for The Bloodline to win the tag titles from them this soon. I'd say that they could eventually get the belts back and will benefit from being in chase mode, but I'm starting to think that The Bloodline will eventually drop them to The Usos once they reunite. You could see the outcome coming from a mile away, but at least it was a quality main event.

Overall Show

It's interesting that this edition of SmackDown had a lot more to do with furthering midcard storylines than actually hyping SummerSlam. The build for the pay-per-view was present and they added the Bloodlines Rules stipulation to Rhodes vs. Sikoa, but a majority of the show wasn't as relevant. It was a perfectly passable show, but only that announcement in the opening segment and the tag title change at the end were remotely notable.
SEE MORE: SmackDown Reviews
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