WWE SmackDown Live Review - August 14, 2018

​​By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair def. Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville

The segment that preceded the match with Lynch and Charlotte trading verbal jabs with Carmella was good, but it paled in comparison to their war of words a few weeks ago. I could have done without Carmella playing up how much of a "Diva" she is because that garbage era is better off forgotten. The subsequent tag matchup was solid and I liked how it was the opposite of what happened last week with Lynch picking up the win for her team this time around.

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The Triple Threat in a 3-on-2 Handicap Match​ Went to a No Contest

We saw something similar with The Bludgeon Brothers last week where they squashed three local jobbers at once, except this match never technically came to fruition. The tag champs laid them out anyway and looked dominant in the process, but I'm ready for them to drop the straps as soon as Sunday. Their annihilation of their opponents is exciting at times, but they largely bore me to tears.

The New Day def. SAnitY

It never ceases to amaze me how despite being around for almost four years by this point, New Day are still so over with the audience. They have been lighting it up in most of their recent matches (including this one) and I just hope they can do the same at SummerSlam against The Bludgeon Brothers. Meanwhile, SAnitY have been treading water since being called up to the main roster, but at least their latest outing with New Day here was entertaining.

Andrade "Cien" Almas def. Aiden English

English attempted to make it up to Rusev after costing him and Lana so many matches in the past few weeks by challenging Almas here, but it lasted a mere minute before he lost in decisive fashion. Unfortunately, the post-match promos from Almas and Zelina Vega felt like they were lacking. Their feud with Rusev and Lana has had "midcard" written all over it, so fingers crossed Almas and Vega will be involved in something more notable following SummerSlam.

Jeff Hardy def. Shelton Benjamin

Hardy has had his ass handed to him every week since Extreme Rules by Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton, so it was imperative he bounced back here with a win to give viewers the impression he has a chance of regaining the United States Championship on Sunday. As for this match, it was joined in progress and was overshadowed by a brief commercial break at one point, but what we did see was fun. Hardy got the better of Nakamura afterward, but it's almost too obvious that Orton will interfere in their upcoming clash one way or another.

Samoa Joe Interrupted WWE Champion AJ Styles

After the great promos they have been cutting on each other in the buildup to their bout at SummerSlam, I was looking forward to them having some sort of face-to-face interaction on this show. Having Joe interrupt Styles worked out fine, but I was left wanting more from Joe, and not in the way they were probably going for. I have no problem with them making it personal with Joe targeting Styles' family, but having him read a phony letter only for the show to immediately go off the air was slightly underwhelming.

Overall Show

Needless to say, SmackDown Live has clearly been the better brand compared to Raw leading up to SummerSlam and I find myself much more excited for the SmackDown side of the card than what Raw has to offer. Although this wasn't up to par with other recent episodes, this was still an enjoyable go-home show that featured a nice mix of wrestling, talking and hype for the pay-per-view. Plus, the video packages promoting Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz were an amazing piece of storytelling and easily the best thing on the entire show, so seek those out if you haven't seen them.