Mistake with The Maharaja
The main event was a good one. Jinder Mahal took on Randy Orton ended the night with a solid fight, but Randy Orton hit an RKO out of nowhere for the win. Randy Orton pinned the WWE Champion, clean, to end the night. Did you read that right? The CHAMPION ON SMACKDOWN, less than 2 weeks from SummerSlam lost to someone who has a very unimportant match at SummerSlam.
Why in the world does this make sense and why does WWE think that Jinder Mahal cannot win a match by himself? Look, heels cheat to win. I get that logic, but even him hitting a low blow or something along those lines, would have been much more effective for Jinder. This is just another case of bad booking for your champion and a win here would make it feel more important if Shinsuke Nakamura would actually beat him at SummerSlam.
The only logical part of the main event happened in the last five seconds, where Rusev kicked Randy Orton and he went down on the stage. It was rushed again, as WWE is having issues with timing on Smackdown Live. Timing and booking your world champion poorly makes tonight’s show go from great to slightly above average.