SummerSlam 2019 saw Kofi Kingston walk out as the WWE Champion, by defeating Randy Orton in a double count-out. This left room for their rivalry to carry on, and hopefully we will see another match at Clash of Champions. Current SmackDown Women’s Champion, Bayley defeated Ember Moon to keep the championship.

    This leaves the question, who would be next to face the champion? Well, “The Queen of all Eras” Charlotte Flair defeated WWE Hall of Famer, Trish Stratus in what was an outstanding match, maybe even the best of the night. Could this mean Flair has earned the right to face Bayley for the prestigious title? 

    Let’s find out what happened, and see how invested we were with this week’s edition of SmackDown Live. 

    THE GOOD

    In this week’s episode of SmackDown Live, “The Queen of all Eras” Charlotte Flair had a match against Ember Moon, and it was an excellent showing from both competitors. Moon was able to push The Queen throughout, but ultimately it was Flair who came through with the victory. She was able to counter Moon’s shots, and apply the Figure Eight for the win. 

    Flair and Moon work brilliantly together in the ring, and compliment each other. This is why this match worked so well; I’m happy that Flair was given the win, although that certainly looks like it means Moon has lost her push at the moment. A loss to Bayley, then another to Flair two days later, and its back down the totem pole for the War Goddess.

    As much as I wanted Moon to win against Bayley at SummerSlam, she’s clearly not ready. The War Goddess is excellent in the ring but she’s not the best at cutting promos or has a decent gimmick. It certainly looks like Flair’s victory over Trish Stratus was a push to the top of the women’s division for her. I’d be curious to see how somebody else may fair in facing Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, but it looks like WWE have their focus fully back on Flair. 

    Bayley and Flair always have magic together in the ring, so maybe having the two of them face off is best for the prestige of the title for now.

    Roman Reigns was up next in action against Buddy Murphy, following last week’s ending to SmackDown Live. Last week saw Roman destroy Murphy in the locker room after he found out Murphy was seen around the site of the forklift accident.

    Prior to the match starting, Rowan and Daniel Bryan both came out to address the rumours started by Murphy and stated that it was a lie. Bryan even went as far as to say he would prove it tonight.

    The match between Reigns and Murphy was excellent. Murphy was able to push “The Big Dog” to his limits, and proved why he was worthy of this opportunity. The former Cruiserweight Champion was able to dodge a Spear and was able to keep momentum after a Superman Punch. Murphy was nearly able to claim victory with a series of knees but was ultimately finished with a hellacious Spear. 

    Following the match, Rowan and Bryan beat down Murphy in the locker room until he admitted he lied about the accusations. Reigns came to save the day and confronted the duo, where Bryan promised he would bring the attacker to Reigns next week. 

    I loved all of this storytelling. Whoever in creative came up with this storyline has worked hard because it is keeping the WWE Universe on the edge of their seats. For those who didn’t know, this was Murphy’s debut match for the blue brand, and what a debut. Even though he had four months waiting, biding his time, he managed to put on a great showing, and hopefully we will see a lot more of him on our screens from this point forth.

    The storyline is certainly keeping the audience guessing by moving our focus from person to person each week, and I’m certainly keen to see where this goes in the future.

    To end the show, we saw The New Day face off against Randy Orton and The Revival. The match was an excellent piece of booking because it’s clearly teasing another match between Kingston and Orton for Clash of Champions, and potentially Xavier Woods and Big E against The Revival too. So in one match, they’ve managed to set up/continue two separate feuds, and you can’t do much better than that.

    As the match started to get going, Kingston was able to escape an RKO and knock Orton out of the ring. This led to The Revival taking control of the match, and they started to focus on the injured arm of Xavier Woods, before picking up the win with the Shatter Machine. Following the match, The Viper was able to deliver an RKO to all members of The New Day, ending the night with a statement – not only was he coming for Kofi, but he was out to hurt his family, too.

    THE BAD

    Just days after his victory over Shane McMahon at SummerSlam, Kevin Owens opens the show. His focus is now on the upcoming King of the Ring tournament. However, McMahon soon interrupts him and then states that he is fining Owens $100,000 for the attack on Elias at SummerSlam. This fires up Owens, who insists that his family needs that money. This leads to the break, and after the break Owens is seen yelling at McMahon in his office, where he kicks off, and throws a chair into a television screen and walks away, telling Shane to make it $105,000. 

    It wasn’t that this was a bad segment, it’s just that the WWE seem to not realise when to move on with a storyline. McMahon was defeated at SummerSlam. Move on. For the first time in a while, McMahon put over a younger talent, and now they seem to be dragging on the storyline for some reason. I really hope they have an end point in place for this storyline because at the moment it’s become very stale, very quickly. The company seems obsessed in having Owens become the new Austin, while having Shane take on his father’s persona now that he’s not on TV so much anymore.

    Later in the night, we saw Kevin Owens face off against Samoa Joe. Joe was facing Owens to shut him up for Shane McMahon. Once again, Elias came out to work as the special guest enforcer for the match. The match was a shambles from the get-go, and for two people who possess the in-ring quality of Joe and Owens, this could be so much better. Owens was able to connect a with a powerbomb, only for Elias to get involved to set up Joe for the rollup pin. 

    This, on paper at least, should have been an excellent match but this somewhat confusing storyline let the match flop. I’m not a fan of how they are using Elias at all. As well, this could have been a perfect time for the 24/7 Championship to somehow get involved, since Elias is the current champion. This was a wasted opportunity for someone to get the pin on Elias during the match. 

    For me, the storyline between McMahon and Owens isn’t working out, and it’s taking up a lot of TV time that could go to somebody like Shinsuke Nakamura, who hasn’t been seen on TV in August yet, despite being the Intercontinental Champion.

    I am loving the direction they’re going with in regard to the WWE Championship, with Kingston continuing his ten-year feud with The Viper. I’m hoping that the storyline comes to an ultimate climax at Clash of Champions, maybe even with a new champion. The New Day possibly feuding with The Revival is an interesting move and should lead to a top quality match at the next PPV if that is where they’re going with this.

    “The Queen” Charlotte Flair feuding against Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship is something I want to see. It’s about time that Charlotte is back in the title picture, and I hope they go with putting her in her rightful place at the top of the division. As I said, I’m very much hooked in with the storyline featuring Reigns, Murphy, Rowan and Bryan, and I’m looking forward to see who the attacker turns out to be. 

    I really hope they have a finishing point for the Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens feud as I’m getting bored of seeing Shane on my screen every week. Give that spot to somebody more deserving, please!

    45% INVESTMENT RATE

    That’s all for this week’s investment rate, don’t forget to check back with me next week to see if the blue brand has once again improved. Until then, read some more quality wrestling writing on here. 

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    You can find the author of this article on Twitter @jackdinsley. Thanks for reading.