The good, the bad, and the utterly baffling from Friday night
Last night's episode of SmackDown on July 24, 2026 proved once again that WWE can give us high-octane drama in one segment and absolute booking brain-rot in the next. We got title picture shifts, ridiculous GM involvement, and a crowd in Philadelphia that was ready to tear the roof off for the right reasons—and throw trash for the wrong ones.
If you sat through two hours of television hoping for logical progression, you probably walked away with a mix of genuine hype and a migraine. Let's break down the 3 things that absolute hit the mark and the 3 things that made us want to throw our remotes through the TV screen.
Loved: The main event tag team masterclass
When you put four world-class workers in the ring and actually give them 18 minutes without a dusty finish, magic happens. The main event saw Cody Rhodes team up with Kevin Owens against Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu, and it was pure box office. The hot tag sequence where Owens cleared house with a cannonball into the corner followed immediately by a pop-up powerbomb had the arena shaking.
The subtle tension between Cody and KO was cooked to perfection. That quick eye contact after Cody accidentally bumped into Owens on the apron at the 14-minute mark did more storytelling than ten 20-minute promos ever could. That is how you build a slow-burn heel turn without insulting the audience's intelligence.
Hated: Nick Aldis getting physical... again
Why do we keep doing this? GM Nick Aldis stepping into the middle of a brawl to take a bump or dish out authority physicals is an itch WWE just cannot stop scratching. As PWTorch recently highlighted, the authority figure trope in matches has a long history, but that doesn't mean we need it back in 2026. We don't need a middle-aged suit taking screen time away from the actual roster.
Watching Aldis strip his jacket to drop a forearm on a midcarder felt like a bad late-stage WCW fever dream. Let the wrestlers wrestle, let the suit hand out matches, and keep the authority figures out of the squared circle unless they are getting powerbombed off the stage by a monster heel.
Loved: The women's U.S. Title division is boiling over
The women's division delivered the highlight match of the night. Tiffany Stratton defending against Michin was a fast-paced sprint that had zero wasted motion. Tiffany counteracting a middle-rope moonsault attempt directly into a Prettiest Moonsault Ever for the pin at 11 minutes was flat-out gorgeous.
More importantly, the midcard title finally feels like it matters. The crowd was chanting 'this is awesome' before the second-string commercial break even hit. This is what happens when you give talented workers actual time and a feud that isn't built around someone stealing someone else's shampoo bottle.
Hated: The 5-minute distraction roll-up finish
Just when you think the creative team has grown past lazy finishes, they hit us with the ultimate mid-2000s special. Santos Escobar facing LA Knight should have been a 12-minute banger. Instead, we got a 4-minute match ruined by random entrance theme music playing out of nowhere to cause a distraction roll-up pin.
Nobody wins here. LA Knight looks like an idiot for staring at the entrance ramp for ten seconds while a veteran wrestler sneaks up behind him. Escobar gets a win that makes him look like a weak opportunist rather than a legitimate contender. It is lazy writing that belongs in the trash bin of wrestling history.
Loved: Carmelo Hayes is officially a superstar
Carmelo Hayes took the microphone during his segment with Andrade and absolutely owned the arena. His charisma is off the charts right now, and the crowd reaction proved he is ready for the top tier. When he hit that satellite DDT off the steel steps during the post-match scuffle, the pop was deafening.
Melo has that rare ability to make every single move look explosive while talking trash to the front row. He doesn't miss. If creative doesn't put a major singles title on this guy by the end of the year, it will be one of the biggest missed opportunities in recent memory.
Hated: The backstage legal dark cloud won't go away
While the action in the ring moved fast, the shadow over the company remains hard to ignore for anyone following the business side. Even as PWInsider reported on recent legal filings regarding high-profile lawsuits, the broadcast team tried their absolute best to pretend the corporate world outside the arena doesn't exist. The whiplash between corporate sanitization and gritty storylines creates a bizarre atmosphere for fans who consume wrestling news daily.
You can't sell us grit and reality on screen while pretending the elephant in the room doesn't exist off screen. WWE needs to figure out its identity fast, because the fans in 2026 are way too smart to be fed corporate polished fluff during an hour-two slump.
