5 Things WWE SmackDown got right this week (July 17, 2020)
The go-home episode of WWE SmackDown before Extreme Rules looked to set up the matches from the brand for Sunday’s event. The night opened up with Big E taking on Cesaro just days before The New Day defends their SmackDown Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura.
Sheamus sent a message across to Jeff Hardy before their grudge match, while Alexa Bliss set up a big women’s tag team match for the night to make an impression.
Braun Strowman showed a more lethal side to himself which was required before his Swamp Fight against Bray Wyatt at Extreme Rules. On the other hand, Naomi and Lacey Evans competed to try and get in the zone for a big opportunity on SmackDown after Extreme Rules.
The final match of the night saw Matt Riddle challenge AJ Styles for the Intercontinental Championship to close out the show and was met with a not-so-pleasant surprise at the end of it.
All this and a lot more was on display during this week’s SmackDown, and we will look at the 5 things WWE got right during the show before Extreme Rules.
#5 Lacey Evans’ heel character resurfaces on WWE SmackDown
Sasha Banks and Bayley have been SmackDown’s premiere heels, and it’s safe to say that the two women are the best heels in the entire WWE women’s locker room.
While things are going smoothly in that department, last week WWE SmackDown thought of turning one of its bigger Superstars heel again. Lacey Evans attacked Naomi after a Karaoke Competition on SmackDown and the two then got into an impromptu match that never came to a conclusive end.
This week, the two women were scheduled to face each other with the hopes of a result coming out of the match. Evans tried to take Naomi out early on in the match but The Glow continued to get back in with some offense of her own.
The Sassy Southern Belle took control in the middle phase, but Naomi hit a moonsault on Evans to even things out. In the final moments of the match, the heelish Sassy Southern Belle knocked Naomi out with The Women’s Right and pinned her for the victory.
While the match was nothing more than ordinary, WWE is doing the right thing by making Evans a heel again. She seems more natural as a heel and did a great job on RAW initially while chasing the RAW Women’s Championship. SmackDown needs a few top heels at the moment, and this could end up being Evans’ ticket to success.