WWE SmackDown Live: 5 booking mistakes made this week (August 6th, 2019)

This week's SmackDown Live was all about building towards Roman Reigns' attacker from last week as well as ensuring that all the build-up for SummerSlam was squeezed into the two-hour show.

There was a lot of talking on this week's episode as the likes of Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon attempted to settle their differences ahead of their hotly anticipated match this weekend and Trish Stratus and Charlotte once again had another face-off in the ring where The Queen was slapped.

There are a number of things that WWE could have done differently this week on SmackDown Live ahead of SummerSlam, but here are the biggest errors when it comes to storylines that the company decided to play out.

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#5. Why didn't Shane McMahon agree?

Why didn't Shane McMahon accept the challenge

Kevin Owens has already decided that he will quit WWE if he's unable to defeat Shane McMahon this weekend in his home country at SummerSlam. This week he wanted to ensure that he and McMahon were on the same page and understood that the only reason he was doing this was to ensure that Shane was taken off TV because he was taking time from other stars who deserved it more.

This is why an "I Quit match" or "Career vs Career" would have been perfect, but McMahon refused to accept the challenge, which means that it's obvious now that Owens isn't going to win. McMahon can still work behind the scenes in WWE if he isn't used on the show itself and given how annoying his image has become on both Raw and SmackDown over the past year, it would have been a much better idea to allow Owens to win the match and McMahon to then walk away from the ring once again.

#4. Rey Mysterio is feuding with Andrade!

Dolph Ziggler attacked Rey Mysterio this week on SmackDown Live

Rey Mysterio and Andrade decided to feud last week on Raw as part of the Gauntlet match to crown a new number one contender for AJ Styles United States Championship. Andrade defeated Mysterio and then went on to rip his mask off and seemingly insult his entire heritage.

This week on Raw the two men collided in the ring one-on-one and it was Zelina Vega who had to step in and help Andrade win. Whilst it makes sense that Mysterio is a legend and the perfect man for Dolph Ziggler to send a message to Goldberg with, he's in the middle of a feud of his own. Mysterio needed to look strong this week on SmackDown Live so he could head over to Raw next week and continue this interesting feud with Andrade.

#3. SummerSlam came early for Detroit

SummerSlam came early this week on SmackDown Live

There were many matches that the WWE Universe expected to be added to SummerSlam this year, but none of the Tag Team Championships in the company will be defended. It doesn't appear that Sami Zayn will be on the card either, at the time time of writing.

Sami Zayn originally challenged Aleister Black but The Dutch Destroyer seemingly didn't want to wait and instead the match happened this week on SmackDown Live. It was a short match that Black won with a fantastic Black Mass but it was a match that deserved to be part of SummerSlam.

It is unknown as to why this match was given away five days early, but it's not much of a surprise since the likes of Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, Shinsuke Nakamura and a number of others are all missing from this weekend's show with no real explanation.

#2. Roman heel turn?

Is Roman Reigns seen as a heel yet?

Roman Reigns has had a shocking week, he's been attacked twice by some mystery person and has since become a paranoid mess who is looking for clues. This week, he told Kayla Braxton that he would get some answers and went on to track Buddy Murphy down in the men's locker room, before beating him to get the answers he needed since Murphy was spotted at the scene of the crime last week.

Murphy is WWE's best-kept secret and the company wasted him in a backstage segment that could have easily become a live match between the two men. Murphy eventually gave up Rowan as the attacker from last week who apparently used a forklift to knock a set onto Reigns, but The former World Champion's current mindset could be questioned since the entire beatdown did look like it could have been the catalyst for a heel turn for The Big Dog.

#1. What is going on with the Women's Division?

The Women's Division has become somewhat confusing

The Women's Division is a bit of a mess on SmackDown Live right now. The only match that took place on SmackDown Live last night for the women was between Natalya and Ember Moon so that Nattie could send a message to the Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch.

The Women's Tag Team Championships will not be defended this weekend at SummerSlam since they were defended on Raw on Monday night, whilst Trish Stratus and Charlotte seem to be happy to build their match based on just promos.

Bayley was the woman who saved Ember Moon from Natalya this week, even though she faces her this weekend for the SmackDown Women's Championship and just a week ago delivered a Bayley to Belly suplex to her challenger. Does anyone know what's going on with the Women's Division right now?