Friday Night SmackDown Review - July 17, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cesaro def. SmackDown Tag Team Champion Big E

Shinsuke Nakamura previously beat Kofi Kingston and the winner of this match earned the opportunity to choose the stipulation for their SmackDown Tag Team Championship clash at Extreme Rules. Cesaro winning made sense and the matchup itself was well wrestled while it lasted. Cesaro and Nakamura choosing the Tables stipulation was hardly a surprise given that they've teased it so heavily in recent weeks.

Moment of Bliss Descended Into Chaos; WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Smackdown Women's Champion Bayley def. Nikki Cross and Raw Women's Champion Asuka

If you were hoping for a returning star or someone out of the ordinary for the mystery guest on Moment of Bliss, you were probably as disappointed as I was. The mic work from Alexa Bliss, Cross, Bayley and Banks was fine albeit nothing new from them. I guess Asuka showing up was supposed to be the big reveal, but it honestly made me more annoyed than anything because of how she's a Raw Superstar and shouldn't be appearing on the opposite brand. Is the Brand-to-Brand Invitation still a thing? At any rate, the tag team match that followed was pretty good, but I don't understand why Cross is losing so often going into the pay-per-view. I'm happy Bayley and Banks aren't getting beaten in non-title matches, but Cross doesn't feel like a threat to Bayley whatsoever at this point.

Universal Champion Braun Strowman def. John Morrison (Non-title)

Strowman's pre-match promo was actually better than the match itself. He showed fantastic fire and left me looking forward to the Wyatt Swamp Fight at Extreme Rules. Morrison got to showcase his skills against Matt Riddle a few weeks ago, but this was the exact opposite of that. He was promptly squashed by Strowman and was made to look like a total loser, again. Hell, WWE may as well have plugged Denzel Dejournette in that spot and it wouldn't have made a difference. Are The Miz and Morrison already on the verge of splitting up again?

Lacey Evans def. Naomi

The hashtag #NaomiDeservesBetter was trending for a long time after what happened here and I can't say I disagree. I'm still baffled that she came back with so much fanfare in the Royal Rumble back in January and WWE proceeded to do absolutely nothing with her. Sure, she had title shots at Super ShowDown and at WrestleMania 36, but that was it. I realize she's been a part of the main roster for almost a decade now, but she should feel way more important than she does at the moment. The match was decent, but Naomi and Evans trading wins back and forth is pointless. Meanwhile, Evans is apparently a heel again if the "crowd's" reaction to her was any indication.

Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles def. Matt Riddle

Aside from his promos clearly being scripted, Riddle has been handled quite well so far on the main roster. WWE did an efficient job of giving this main event a big fight feel going in and then Riddle and Styles delivered as only they could. They made the most of the time they had and Riddle scored enough offense that him losing clean to Styles (which was refreshing) didn't bother me. I appreciated that they held off on having King Corbin attack Riddle until afterward. I'm curious if Riddle vs. Corbin will be added as a last-minute matchup for Extreme Rules or if that will be a SummerSlam storyline.

Overall Show

Bray Wyatt cut a cool promo before Strowman vs. Morrison previewing the Wyatt Swamp Fight for Extreme Rules, which I am cautiously optimistic about. Speaking of Extreme Rules, the Bar Fight between Jeff Hardy and Sheamus is not happening at the pay-per-view, as it was announced on this episode that it's taking place next week on SmackDown instead. Much like most of WWE's programming in recent weeks, this edition of SmackDown failed to get me hyped for Extreme Rules (mostly because it feels like a filler card on paper), but at least the main event was excellent enough to hold my interest. Unfortunately, everything else was mediocre at best. It's a shame to see SmackDown go back to being dull after a string of strong shows not too long ago.