WWE Smackdown spoilers and analysis - July 23, 2015

Smackdown spoilers – 23/7/15

Spoilers:

-Dean Ambrose opened Smackdown with an in ring promo.

-Sheamus defeated Ambrose with a brogue kick when Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper provided a distraction.

-JoJo interviewed Neville backstage. Stardust appeared on a small screen behind them laughing.

-Neville defeated Adam Rose in a short squash match.

-Stardust cut a backstage promo on Neville.

-King Barret cut an in-ring promo about how is the king.

-Rusev defeated Kevin Owens via count-out when Owens walked away and left the ring.

-Cesaro was being interviewed backstage before Owens interrupted and the two traded insults.

-The Bella Twins defeated Naomi & Sasha Banks when Nikki pinned Naomi.

-Seth Rollins defeated Cesaro with the pedigree in an absolutely amazing match. Owens came out after the match and hit Cesaro with a pop-up powerbomb to end Smackdown.

Owens pop-up powerbombs Cesaro 

Analysis:

Sheamus was actually able to pick up a win on Smackdown which should help Mr Money in the Bank regain some momentum, even though he was aided with a distraction. The plan for Summerslam definitely appears to be Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper. However there have been some rumours that Sting may join Ambrose/Reigns side, so if that does indeed happen, it will be interesting to see who joins The Wyatt’s side. If Eric Rowan has recovered from his injury then it becomes an obvious choice but if Rowan’s not quite ready yet, then it could be anyone. It’s possible that the Wyatts’ will recruit another member on Raw this week only to have Sting appear on the following Raw the week after.  

The Neville v Stardust feud also continued as Neville picked up a win over Rose to gain momentum and Stardust attempted to play mind games. It will be interesting to see if this leads to a Stardust v Neville match at Summerslam, or to the rumoured Stardust v Green Arrow match (with Neville potentially in Arrows corner).

King Barrett was also on Smackdown to cut a ‘king’ promo. So hopefully now his ridiculous feud with Truth is over and hopefully WWE will start capitalizing on his King of the Ring victory by giving him some sort of significant push. Barrett is very talented both in the ring and on the mic and WWE need to start using him properly.

Having the Bellas defeat Team BAD isn’t great but at least it keeps the story going, as it keeps the Bellas as a threat, and at least it was Naomi taking the pinfall loss instead of the recently debuted Sasha Banks.

Seth Rollins and Cesaro delivered a fantastic bout to close the show, once again proving why Cesaro deserves to be pushed as a top tier main event talent. Furthermore, a feud between Cesaro and Owens seems to be the plan heading into Summerslam. Hopefully, though, the United States title and John Cena will be included. John Cena should not be challenging Rollins for the title, especially while he is still US champ and especially while a potential match of the year bout between Owens, Cesaro and Cena is waiting to happen. Cena v Owens v Cesaro for the United States Championship needs to happen and Summerslam is the perfect place for it. That way, Cena can drop the title without even being pinned and go on to challenge Rollins for the title at Night of Champions instead.  

This week’s episode of Smackdown just brings Summerslam all the more closer, as more feuds and storylines begin to become clear.