“I’m Better Than You, And You Know It”

"Every Man Has A Price For The Million Dollar Man"

"The Best There Is, The Best There Was, And The Best There Ever Will Be"

"Whatcha Gonna Do, When Hulkamania Runs Wild On You"

"And That's The Bottom Line Because Stone Cold Said So"

<p>The SmackDown side of WWE had some explosive matches at Summerslam. Can they better themselves tonight? Let’s find out.</p>
<h2><strong>The Miz and Daniel Bryan feud is ruined</strong></h2>
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<p>The mixed tag team match has never worked. It didn’t work when Cena and Nikki Bella did it. It didn’t work last Sunday on the kick-off show. Don’t get us wrong. Such a match has a huge potential but the men and women involved should have similar wrestling capabilities.</p>
<p>Bryan and Miz can tear the house down but Brie Bella and Maryse are not among the gifted wrestlers in the women’s division. That doesn’t work in a feud that has advanced so much. Maybe this time they will be able to make a mixed tag team match work but based on history, we have very little faith in it.</p>
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<p>The segment was very good but it was so because the men did all the talking. If it is about giving the women equal standing in WWE then why were they just standing there making weird expressions instead of cutting a promo of their own?</p>
<p>To invest in a feud, one needs to be able to connect to the people feuding and while that is true in the case of Bryan and Miz, it certainly doesn’t feel that way with Maryse and Brie. Their Hell In A Cell match will probably be like mixing something hot and cold to make something lukewarm. This was one feud that didn’t deserve to be watered down like this.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 2/5</strong></p>
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<h2><strong>Is Jeff Hardy a heel now?</strong></h2>
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<p>This was a really entertaining segment to say the least. We were all expecting another beat down for Jeff, this time at the hands of Randy Orton but instead Hardy turned the tables in sadistic fashion. For once the kick to the balls didn’t feel that cringe-worthy although WWE could have gone in another direction.</p>
<p>Hardy beating Orton with a chair after the match and the Swanton through the table was cool and suddenly this feud has come alive. Now we are intrigued to know where all of this is leading to and how Orton will retaliate. A great segment.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 5/5</strong></p>
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<h2><strong>Is Peyton Royce getting a push now?</strong></h2>
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<p>WWE were back at it again. As soon as a star gets some mainstream attention they try to cash in on it rather cheaply. They did that with Titus O’Neil and they are now doing it with Royce. The truth, however, is that Royce isn’t ready for a push and her in-ring work is questionable. This will only hamper her career. The match was dull and the lack of reaction from the crowd was a death bell from the very beginning.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 2/5</strong></p>
<p></p>
<h2><strong>Lynch finally speaks out</strong></h2>
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<p>Even though it was predicted, to actually see the sweet Becky Lynch turn heel was still a bit shocking to experience. Today she came out and gave her reasoning and it all seemed logical. Flair gained an entry in what was Lynch’s best chance to win the title in a long time and then even stole the win when it was almost within Lynch’s grasp. She then goes on to call out the crowd as heels do.</p>
<p>We were a bit skeptical as to whether Lynch will be able to pull off a heel persona but she is doing just fine so far. WWE did go a bit overboard with the ending where all the women on SmackDown came to separate the two but overall a nice segment and a nice story for Evolution.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 4/5</strong></p>
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<h2><strong>English finally helps out Rusev and Lana</strong></h2>
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<p>The longer a story is dragged out the better should be the payoff and after weeks of English costing Rusev and Lana their matches what happened today didn’t feel justified. For starters, we are still miffed about the fact that Rusev is not getting the singles push he so deserves. The whole English angle seemed to take him there but now we are stuck with a weird trio.</p>
<p>The only positive about this match was that the Rusev at least got to wrestle with Almas for a decent duration. This is one of those cases where WWE are clueless as to which direction the feud should go in and just come up with something at the last moment every week.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 2/5</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>The Samoa Joe &#8211; AJ Styles feud gets even more heated up</strong></h2>
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<p>This was another awesome segment. We were made to believe every word Styles said and that is what a good wrestling story does. The interview was filled with passion and the subsequent attack by Samoa Joe and saying cruel things to Styles’ family was genius heel work.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 5/5</strong></p>
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<h2><strong>R-Truth makes Carmella relevant</strong></h2>
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<p>If this was a segment where Carmella was to moan about her title rematch, it would have been a bland segment where people watching at home would probably have gone to take a break. Instead R-Truth made it one of the funniest segments of the night. R-Truth is still convinced that he can pin Carmella to get a title shot.</p>
<p>Paige tried to convince him that it is not how things work but it doesn’t look like R-Truth understood anything. Oh and Carmella gets a title rematch next week but who cares. This was a fun segment that made us laugh and so it is all right in our books.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 4/5</strong></p>
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<h2><strong>The New Day are your new tag champions</strong></h2>
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<p>We all know that this wasn’t part of the original storyline and was done more out of necessity due to the supposed <a href="https://api.wrestlingworld.co/news/wwe-veteran-matt-hardy-might-not-wrestle-again-contract-to-expire-in-march/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">injury to Eric Rowan’s arm</a>. The only gripe we have about this was that they could have given more context for why this is happening. A little more build-up through the night that the New Day won via disqualification and were therefore being put in a no DQ match this time.</p>
<p>Having said that, the match was great and The New Day know how to be champions. With the Bludgeon Brothers in all probability being temporarily disbanded the New Day need a tag team to feud with and we hope that it is a new tag team rather than a team like the Usos or the Bar. The match was very good considering the fact that they were covering for Rowan. Overall, a great way to end SmackDown.</p>
<p><strong>Rating: 4/5</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Overall Review: </strong>SmackDown this week managed to maintain its high standards. Except for the Rusev injustice and the screwing up of the Bryan-Miz feud, the night was a solid night of entertainment and story-telling.</p>
<p>We just hope that WWE does better when it comes to their most valuable superstars. Also, the whole R-Truth thing seems to be leading up to a program with James Ellsworth. It could be funny but only time will tell. A solid week of SmackDown.</p>
<p><strong>Overall Rating: 3.5/5</strong></p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

WWE SmackDown Live Results & Review: August 21, 2018

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