WWE SmackDown Live: Results, Analysis, and Grades for Aug. 29

SmackDown Live, WWE.com

Last week’s SmackDown concluded many storylines post-SummerSlam. This week, we saw some exciting developments, but not a whole lot of wrestling.

How did SmackDown plan on topping last week’s episode? It doesn’t matter how they planned to top it, because they couldn’t. It feels like SmackDown is running in place. Despite many of the feuds concluding at SummerSlam and last week, the blue brand simply seems to be rehashing the same match-ups with the same group of wrestler week after week.

Since the brand split, this is the first episode where I looked at my clock and thought, “ It’s only been an hour?” That is not a good sign. I can’t help but feel that SmackDown is underutilizing many of their top talents. And their WWE Championship scene has been quite a snooze fest ever since Jinder Mahal became champion, and I don’t think it’s his fault necessary.

But it wasn’t all bad. In-ring debuts and some storyline development helped move the episode along. So let’s review the Aug. 29 edition of SmackDown Live!

WWE.com

The Singh Brothers Apologize to Mahal

Whoa! Would you look at that, we get the WWE Champion, Jinder Mahal, to start the show off. Since the Superstar Shakeup the opening segment has largely been dominated by SmackDown’s de-facto main event, the Styles vs Owens feud. With that feud effectively over, Jinder Mahal has been positioned front and center as the biggest star on the show.

This segment was no Cena/ Reigns contract signing, but it was entertaining in its own right. Mahal started off with his all-too-familiar “You people…” promo. Despite it’s incredible redundancy, it seems to be finally getting some traction as the arena rained down boos on the champion.

After last weeks embarrassing 2-on-1 handicap match, the Singh Brother began to apologize to Jinder Mahal. They said they did not even belong in the same ring as the Modern Day Maharaja, and pleaded to kiss the royal feet of the champion. Just then, Nakamura’s music hit as he made his full entrance. The Singh Brothers physically stood in his way, but were easily separated by the Artist. A scuffle broke out. Randy Orton’s music hit and he helped even the odds. Rusev appeared “outta nowhere” with an intense boot the face of Orton.

The four  superstars were set to battle in a tag-team main event.

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Nakamura and Randy Orton would face each other one-on-one, and the winner of the match would become the number one contender for the WWE Championship. This obviously added a little intrigue into tonight’s main event. Now Orton and Nakamura’s partnership was a little more tenuous.