WWE SmackDown Grades: The New Day Ends The Bludgeoning

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The Aug. 21 edition of WWE SmackDown saw the fallout from SummerSlam and shined a light on what the future could hold for the blue brand with Hell In A Cell less than four weeks away.

The post-SummerSlam edition of WWE SmackDown successfully focused on the aftermath of the biggest party of the summer as a whole with several key storyline developments.

The blue brand has several of the top angles in the WWE heading into Hell In A Cell next month that should take center stage again.  Let’s take a look at a few grades from the Aug. 21 edition of WWE SmackDown.

5. Opening Segment

The WWE universe was understandably excited to see the eight-year journey between Daniel Bryan and The Miz take center stage at SummerSlam.  It was a feud everyone wanted to see, but that didn’t stop The Miz from taking a shortcut in getting a marquee victory over his rival.

Thanks to his wife Maryse handing him brass knuckles from the crowd, The Miz was able to defeat Bryan at SummerSlam.  But The A-Lister wasn’t satisfied with just beating him as was evident last night when he and Maryse opened up the show.  The Miz came out in a somber mood and you could tell where the segment was going from that point.

Miz gave his version of Bryan’s retirement speech from 2016, but the twist was he said he’s retired from ever having to face The Yes Man again.  It was a segment only The Miz could pull off in his own brash way, but Bryan wasn’t having any of it and he came out to address The A-Lister.  He continued to call The Miz a coward and when Maryse mentioned Bryan’s wife Brie Bella, it was time for Brie Mode to intervene.

Brie came running down to attack Maryse, but would soon get a few punches in on The Miz.  Bryan then announced that at Hell In A Cell next month, it will be Bryan and Bella vs. Miz and Maryse in mixed tag team action.  This is a nice twist to the rivalry and should help things out in the long run with Bryan and Miz destined to square off again.

There’s just no way to ruin this feud and last night’s segment and interaction helped things out after a very good SummerSlam match.

Final Grade: B+