WWE Smackdown Grades (16th July 2019): Grading tonight’s show, fights and moments

#8 - Hit a stunner, do a runner

.@FightOwensFight delivers ANOTHER STUNNER to @shanemcmahon and high-tails it out of the arena! #SDLIVE pic.twitter.com/YUYXb3nXSl

— WWE (@WWE) July 17, 2019

A running thread throughout the show saw Dolph Ziggler attempting to get Kevin Owens to return to the arena with the promise of a main event match between the two rivals.

A suspicious Owens took the bait but was constantly looking over his shoulder, expecting some kind of attack from Shane McMahon as revenge for his stunner earlier in the night.

Despite a hot start to the match from Owens, Ziggler ended up taking over and controlling the contest.

As Owens started to mount a comeback, Shane came down to ringside with every Smackdown heel that he could find and they surrounded the ring.

‘KO’ continued the match and looked to have it won when he hit a stunner on Dolph, but Shane pulled him out the ring before he himself was hit with another stunner by Owens.

The antihero babyface Kevin Owens then ran away, chased by the heels, as Shane vowed to have his revenge as the show went off the air.

This ended Smackdown on a flat note and didn’t exactly paint Owens as the Stone Cold-like character he has been portrayed as in recent weeks.

Grade: B-

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While Smackdown had a decent pace to it throughout, most of the matches were far too short to be meaningful and it ended up being a very unremarkable show.

This week was reported to be Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff’s first week in their new ‘Executive Director’ roles, but if tonight’s Smackdown and last night’s Raw are anything to go by, not a lot has changed.

Overall Grade: C