The Good
For Raw, we have some buildup to a big match for Summerslam. They had two separate triple threat matches and the winner of those matches would face off next week. The winner of that match will get to face Brock Lesnar at Summerslam for the Universal Championship. Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley ended up winning those matches, meaning they will face off next week. While I did like both matches and they were entertaining, the end results are worrying me. We just saw Lashley beat Roman Reigns at Extreme Rules, and now we get to see this match again. When Lashley won that right there should’ve gave him the #1 contendership for the championship. But, now he has to try and beat Reigns again (which I doubt will happen) and we get to have the awful main event at Wrestlemania headline Summerslam.
For Smackdown, the memorial the Miz had for Team Hell No was entertaining, funny, and a great start to buildup the ongoing feud between Daniel Bryan and the Miz. He ran down team Hell No and played the “I told you so” bit before Daniel Bryan had heard enough and attacked him. The feud between these two has been going on for years, but we have yet to see them duel it out in the ring. Hopefully, this is the case and we get to see these two at Summerslam.
The Bad
For Raw, I think we have seen enough of the Riot Squad versus Ember Moon. This match has happened three weeks in a row and it hasn’t really led to anything to escalate these competitors to keep fighting each other. We’ll see what WWE has planned for Ember Moon going forward but if it is to keep fighting the same person week after week, than her main roster debut isn’t going how it should be.
For Smackdown, they didn’t really have anything bad happen on their show. The only questionable match you could consider would be Samoa Joe versus Tye Dillinger. But, Joe attacked Dillinger when they were supposed to fight last week so it made sense that they fought this week. Along with that, since Joe win, hopefully this directs the pathway for him to face AJ Styles at Summerslam because that would be a match everyone wants to see.
The Final Verdict
Coming off of Extreme Rules, WWE needed to focus right onto Summerslam. Both brands were able to do that this week and really help lay out some blueprints for what we are going to see at the summer’s biggest PPV. With that said though, I will have to say that Smackdown had the better show this week. Every match made sense, they laid out some previews for matches we may see at Summerslam, and they had a great main event. Summerslam already looks to be a big PPV and in the next few weeks, WWE fans should really look forward to the slow buildup for all the matches going forward!
