SmackDown Live this week was another stacked episode that saw the return of a number of superstars including Charlotte Flair, Liv Morgan, Apollo Crews, and Buddy Murphy. Heading into SummerSlam SmackDown Live and Monday Night Raw have been pretty interesting with Bray Wyatt returning to the ring this week on Raw as well.
This time of the year is always the most important for WWE since the build into SummerSlam is usually one of the most-watched parts of the WWE calendar. SummerSlam is already looking like it could be one of the best shows of 2019 given the teased matches so far, but whilst there are a number of stars that deserve to be part of The Biggest Party of the Summer, there are a few who have shown that they need to step up their game if they want to be involved.
#3. Shane McMahon is stunned
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Shane McMahon has been embroiled in a feud with Kevin Owens over the past few weeks, ever since Owens decided to air his grievances last week and they were all aimed at The Best In The World.
Owens was banned from the building last week but was still able to run in and attack McMahon at the end of the show. This week Shane tried the same tactic and gave KO the night off but he managed to find his way back into the building and deliver a stunner to Shane McMahon following the first-ever Town Hall meeting.
McMahon has taken a lot of stunners over the course of his career but never one as badly as on SmackDown Live last night, since he was kicked by Owens and then fell as the former Universal Champion looked to deliver the move.
#2. Kofi's Trouble In Paradise
Kofi Kingston had no shortage of challengers this week on SmackDown Live following his victory over Samoa Joe, which led to The New Day backing up the WWE Champion in a six-man Tag Team match instead.
Elias, Samoa Joe, and Randy Orton teamed together to take on The New Day and it was Orton who was able to get the pin on the WWE Champion to seemingly set up a match between the two men at SummerSlam.
Kingston fell victim to the RKO, which was just after he delivered a shocking Trouble In Paradise to Elias. The commentary team shouted that it was Trouble in Paradise, but it hit Elias in his ribs which isn't the way the move should be done. This isn't the first time Kingston has botched his finisher since he's been botching it regularly in recent weeks.
#1. Apollo Crews is jumped
Apollo Crews took on Andrade this week on SmackDown Live, but after the comments that Crews made at the top of the show, The former NXT Champion wanted to make a statement. As Crews made his way to the ring, he was attacked by Andrade and it looked as though he was going for a kick to the mid-section to keep him down, but the kick completely missed, even though Crews reacted to it.
Apollo Crews is one of the most underused stars in WWE currently which is a shock given the talent that he possesses, but hopefully despite the botch which was completely on Andrade, these two will continue to have an interesting feud in the build-up to SummerSlam that might even lead to both men being part of the card.