5 Takeaways from this week's WWE SmackDown Live (3 July 2018)
Five matches took place as WWE SmackDown Live emanated from Omaha, Nebraska this week.
The show began with the reunited Daniel Bryan and Kane arguing over their previous rivalries, only to be interrupted by The Usos, who were informed by General Manager Paige that they would be added to the SmackDown Tag Team title match at Extreme Rules if they could defeat Team Hell No in the main event.
In the first match of the night, Jeff Hardy celebrated Independence Day by successfully defending his United States Championship against The Miz, defeating him with a Twist of Fate followed by a Swanton Bomb.
Next up, all three members of The New Day competed in a pancake-eating contest. However, just five seconds into their allocated five minutes, they were attacked by SAnitY and the segment ended with Eric Young sending Xavier Woods through a table following a top-rope elbow drop.
Elsewhere on the show, Asuka’s match against James Ellsworth ended in a double-countout when Carmella’s sidekick ran away from “The Empress of Tomorrow”, while Becky Lynch recorded her sixth consecutive SmackDown Live victory by defeating Peyton Royce.
In the night’s featured matches, AJ Styles warmed up for his Extreme Rules match against Rusev by defeating Aiden English, and Team Hell No put their differences aside to defeat The Usos in the main event.
Let’s take a look at five things that stood out from this week’s episode.
#5 Credit to WWE for acknowledging Team Hell No’s storied history
When Daniel Bryan and Kane reunited with a hug at the end of last week’s SmackDown Live, it looked as though the duo would immediately be back on the same page ahead of their upcoming SmackDown Tag Team Championship match against The Bludgeon Brothers at Extreme Rules.
However, long-term WWE viewers with good memories will know that things didn’t exactly end well when Team Hell No split last time, with Kane hitting Bryan with three tombstones on an episode of Raw (as well as trying to abduct his wife!) during their WWE Championship rivalry after WrestleMania 30.
WWE often rewrites history (or neglects to mention it at all) when two people are involved in a storyline together after a long period of time, so credit to them for getting old and new fans fully up to speed on Team Hell No’s drama-filled history throughout this week’s SmackDown Live.