5 Takeaways From SmackdownLive - 7/17/18

This is my series, simply known as "5 Takeaways", where I will share my personal main talking points coming out of Raw and SmackdownLive.

These are all my opinion, so I may miss a nugget or two. If you have something to add to my list, or a list of your own, feel free to share in the comment section below!

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After a nice winning streak, Becky Lynch defeated Mandy Rose once again, and at least seems to have some sort of direction. Lynch will face Carmella next week, and has to win in order to get a title shot at Carmella.

Now, in WWE's land of "50/50 booking" it seems as though Becky could win next week in order to get into the title match, only for Carmella to find a way to weasel away with the belt.

With Charlotte Flair saying in an interview that she hopes to return soon, we could see Lynch finally recapture the championship, only for Flair to return as a heel and challenge for it.

This particular episode of SmackdownLive featured plenty of good wrestling, including two great matches (AJ Styles vs Andrade Cien Almas, and Shinsuke Nakamura vs Jeff Hardy) and a solid one (Eric Young vs Kofi Kingston).

Everyone knows Smackdown is more of the "wrestling" show, while Raw is built toward characters and the casual viewer. This show especially pointed this out, and showcased what the talent of the former "B-show" can really do.

After Joe has been absent from storylines for the last four weeks or so, he finally had a match. It was a squash match against Tye Dillinger but it reminded us how great he is (if for some reason you forgot about Joe).

The real question is "where does Joe go from here?", and the answer is... the WWE title picture. Samoa Joe is a technical badass who has almost no equal. Any feud would pale in comparison to a title rivalry with AJ Styles (possibly also including Andrade Cien Almas). Joe is more than deserving of a title shot, and shouldn't settle for anything less.

After returning at Extreme Rules, some people were unsure if Randy Orton was officially a heel, or dropped back into his "tweener" (or anti-hero) role. After last night, there's no doubt that he is.

During Jeff Hardy's rematch for the United States title against Shinsuke Nakamura (a very good match, I might add), Orton got involved and costed Hardy a potential title win. He then followed up with a vicious assault, including a cringe-worthy yanking on the ears, where Hardy's gauges were.

Randy Orton has always been one of the most convincing heels in the company. As a face, he's pretty boring, but bringing him back as a heel was a great move.

In my favorite match of the night, the WWE champion AJ Styles defeated Andrade Cien Almas, but not until the latter took him to his absolute limit. This was a fantastic match, which showed how great in the ring both of these men are.

I've been very adamant about how I feel about Almas, and I'm very glad he got his shot here. Styles looked to have met his match, and a possible challenger. It will be very interesting to see if WWE goes through with a Styles/Almas feud for the title, or potentially adds the aforementioned Samoa Joe into the mix.