The biggest winners and losers of last night's SmackDown (July 23)

SmackDown did a much better job than Raw this week of setting up SummerSlam. "Wild card" nonsense was thankfully kept to a minimum and most of the rivalries moved forward on the road to SummerSlam, unlike on Raw.

Perhaps the blue brand is now finally moving in the right direction again, albeit things are so inconsistent week to week that we can't be sure.

Who got the most and least out of this week's episode of SmackDown?

Winner: Kevin Owens

As cringeworthy as Kevin Owens' "hellraiser" line was (sorry KO, you aren't Stone Cold Steve Austin - WWE should tone down the tribute gimmick, and are we suddenly supposed to forget Owens' wining about Kofi Kingston two months ago?), this act is getting him over as a babyface and giving him momentum he hasn't seen in years.

The match between him and Shane McMahon was made official. It's an opportunity, but it will only work if Owens wins and finally sends Shane McMahon off TV. If Shane McMahon wins, it's a waste.

And the last thing we need is a do-over of the Owens vs. McMahon rivalry that stretched far too long in 2017-18.

This needs to be short, sweet, and decisive to work, but we can't be sure of that. All we can say is the direction is right so far.

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

Imagine that, a champion actually winning on TV!

For someone who was non-existent a few weeks ago, that's a major step up. Being a strong Intercontinental Champion that actually shows up on television and wins is about as good as it will ever get for Shinsuke Nakamura in WWE.

It's unclear if Apollo Crews will be his opponent for SummerSlam. The post-match angle left room for that possibility, but either way, Nakamura is currently headed in the right direction.

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