WWE SMACKDOWN HITS & MISSES 7/31: Carmella and Becky Lynch, Orton beats down Hardy, Lana vs. Zelina, Samoa Joe, Bryan-Miz exchange, Carmella vs. Charlotte

HITS

•Carmella and Becky Lynch Opening Segment: It’s about time Carmella knocked a promo out of the park. Her and Lynch kicked off Smackdown Live when the two ladies squared off in the middle of the ring for a face-to-face meeting weeks before the two battle for the Women’s Title. Carmella went for the classic heel sob story where ‘tears’ were shed. This led to Lynch being distracted by James Ellsworth’s theme song lending her vulnerable to an attack by Carmella from behind. Out comes the returning Charlotte! The former women’s champion came sprinting out to the aid of her best friend, Lynch. Carmella was sent running up the ramp.

•Usos vs. The Bar: Sheamus and Cesaro looked as if they had some time off, especially the Celtic Warrior. Sheamus looked quite sluggish the first five minutes missing a couple spots. Usos were fantastic as always and the match was good. As the match went on the rust wilted away from The Bar and the match picked up steam. Raw is missing the tag team atmosphere that Smackdown has created and this match proves so. The Bar won a battle with a phenomenal ending. Cesaro caught Jay in mid air with an uppercut whilst Sheamus rolled up Jimmy for the win.

•Samoa Joe Promo: Joe came off as a bonafide killer during his in-ring promo as he sent threats and promises to WWE Champion AJ Styles. The crowd was into Joe and was hush throughout so they were certainly listening to his every word. It’ll be interesting to see how Styles responds.

•Daniel Bryan-The Miz Promo: Phenomenal. Just simply tremendous. This promo alone was more must-see than anything we saw on Raw Monday. I strongly urge all of you who may have missed Smackdown Live to go on YouTube or the WWE app and watch this segment. The reality of it felt like a shoot between two wrestlers who act like real heat is in the air. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Just beautiful pro wrestling stuff.

•Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair: For those who thought Carmella couldn’t hang with the big guns in the women’s division certainly got their hands smacked Tuesday night. Charlotte faced off against Carmelo with the stipulation being at Flair wins she is added to the woman’s title match between Carmella and Becky Lynch at SummerSlam. This match also proved just how amazing Charlotte is. Since taking quite a bit of time off to repair some injuries, Flair returned in style and didn’t seem to have missed a single beat in ring. Credit has to also go to the current women’s champion for selling her behind off against her most formidable opponent. It was quite the back and forth with Flair mixing in a moonsault off the outside guard rail and even a failed leap frog over the top rope to the outside. Flair earned the victory by forcing Carmella to tap out to the Figure 8 thus making the smackdown live Women’s Championship match at SummerSlam a triple threat match.

MISSES

•Randy Orton beat down of Jeff Hardy: Thanks to the involvement of Shinsuke Nakamura, Orton was able to get started on another destruction of the charismatic enigma. The segment spread a little too long and was very weird in parts. Case in point: Orton washing Hardy’s face with a wet cloth. Just and odd decision.

•Lana vs. Zelina Vega: Not to destroy the two ladies but it surely wasn’t the best contest. Both women worked hard and Lana has certainly improved inside the ring. It was Vega’s first match on Smackdown Live and she wasn’t the worst but obviously there’s work to be done.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS RELATED ARTICLE: TOP 3 DEVELOPMENTS – SMACKDOWN 7/31: Triple Threat for the Women’s Title at SummerSlam, Bryan vs Miz, Joe Calls Out AJ