 Shotzi and Charlotte Flair def. Damage CTRL (WWE Women's Champion IYO SKY and Bayley)The booking in SmackDown's women's division has been pretty paint-by-numbers stuff since SummerSlam, which is a shame because it felt like SKY's title win shook things up. Instead, Damage CTRL are back to being stepping stones and SKY hasn't come off as much bigger of a star despite being champion. This was a decent opener, but the bigger takeaway is that SKY vs. Asuka is imminent and I'm looking forward to that. LA Knight def. Austin TheoryIt was reported yesterday that Knight had either signed a long-term deal with WWE or was closing to doing so and now his aggressive push can get going. The guy continues to get crowd reactions befitting of a megastar (as he calls himself) and I'm stoked for his success having followed his career for many years now. There was nothing overly special about the pre-match verbal exchange Knight had with Knight and Grayson Waller, but the subsequent match Knight and Theory had was solid. With Waller hosting The Grayson Waller Effect with John Cena next week, I'm thinking we might get a tag team match before Cena's SmackDown stint is over. Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest) def. The Brawling Brutes (Butch and Ridge Holland) (Non-Title)If you're sick of seeing Judgment Day on Raw, get ready to see even more of them on SmackDown now that Balor and Priest are tag team champs. Personally, I still enjoy the group, so I have no issue with them pulling double duty (or triply duty in the case of Dominik Mysterio also being on NXT). At any rate, these teams got some time and made the most of it. They had a pretty good match and Brawling Brutes were made to look credible in defeat. Post-match, Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits put Judgment Day on notice. AJ Styles def. Jimmy UsoThe question of whether Jimmy has been accepted back into The Bloodline was the big story of the night as well as Styles' growing frustration with him, Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman. It's nice to see Styles back in a prominent spot on the show for a change, but I hope it's not short-lived and we can actually see him challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at some point. This was a quality main event. Jimmy losing his first singles match since turning heel obviously wasn't ideal, but I'm glad we didn't get a non-finish. Judgment Day have been taking some shots at The Bloodline lately, so Balor and Priest attacking Styles was an interesting development. Overall ShowIt felt like there were more video packages, promos and backstage segments than usual, which may have been by design due to half of the roster being in India for Superstar Spectacle. It ended up being a middle-of-the-road show and The Bloodline were once again the focal point. It feels like faction wars are upon us and maybe it will be enough to keep SmackDown engaging until Reigns returns. They took the less-is-more approach with this episode and I'll always prefer that over a string of short matches and segments.
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