{"id":218950,"date":"2026-07-05T18:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=218950"},"modified":"2026-07-05T18:00:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T23:00:53","slug":"wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-7-3-did-samis-championship-win-celebration-land-as-intended-is-lil-yachty-past-his-expiration-date-in-wwe-rey-fenix-vs-vikingo-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/05\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-7-3-did-samis-championship-win-celebration-land-as-intended-is-lil-yachty-past-his-expiration-date-in-wwe-rey-fenix-vs-vikingo-more\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &#038; MISSES (7\/3): Did Sami&#8217;s championship win celebration land as intended, is Lil Yachty past his expiration date in WWE, Rey Fenix vs. Vikingo, more"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1420845855\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>SAMI ZAYN CELEBRATION PROMO &#8211; HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This gets a Hit because of what it sets up. Although it did start a bit odd, as the fans didn\u2019t really know how to respond to Sami. On one hand, they were clearly happy for him for his long-awaited WWE Championship win; on the other hand, he has been playing a whiny heel for the past few months (fantastically, by the way), so what you got was a mixture of cheers and boos with a light &#8220;You deserve it!&#8221; chant.<\/p>\n<p>I am happy Sami seems to be sticking with his heel character, and he did a good job of pointing out that fans had been booing him and shouting out his &#8220;ride or die&#8221; fanbase. It reminded me a bit of Bret Hart&#8217;s early heel tendencies in 1997, and Sami was great here again.<\/p>\n<p>Cody Rhodes&#8217;s interruption was expected, but in all honesty, I didn&#8217;t expect Jey Uso. Still, this did end up making sense, as they got the main event no. 1 contender match set up from here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CHARLOTTE FLAIR &amp; CHELSEA GREEN &amp; TIFFANY STRATTON vs. JADE GARGILL &amp; B-FAB &amp; MICHIN &#8211; MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Basic six-woman tag match to progress storylines. The problem with watching so many great NXT women&#8217;s matches recently is that the main roster TV matches don\u2019t compare favorably.<\/p>\n<p>We seem to be heading towards Charlotte vs. Jade at SummerSlam, and, with two nights of matches needed, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see Chelsea Green &amp; Tiffany Stratton vs. B-Fab &amp; Michin on the card too.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Chelsea Green, she was once again clearly the most popular wrestler in the match. I do wonder if it&#8217;s even crossing the mind of the SmackDown creative team to move her up the card now that they are settled on having her as a face character. Yes, her current goofy character doesn\u2019t scream main event, but with growing fan support, I wouldn\u2019t rule it out.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-565520443\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>NICK ALDIS &amp; GUNTHER CONFRONTATION RECAP &#8211; HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This was just a quick recap of what happened at Night Of Champions following the WWE Championship match, but I wanted to mention it. I thought this was a great segment when I saw it, a level of realism that isn\u2019t seen enough on WWE programming. Both Nick Aldis and Gunther were really good, and you believed the hostility. More of this, please!<\/p>\n<p><strong>SAMI ZAYN BACKSTAGE WITH JOHNNY GARGANO &#8211; MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Just a short segment, but I wish they wouldn&#8217;t have Sami doing these little comedy bits with whatever the heck Gargano is at the minute. Especially now that he\u2019s the champion, it makes it even more beneath him. This may well end up with Johnny Garagano assisting Sami in some way, but it&#8217;s a bit jarring going from heated promo confrontations against the top contenders to these little comedy routines. Seems out of place.<\/p>\n<p><strong>REY FENIX vs. EL HIJO DEL VIKINGO \u2013 AAA Cruiserweight Title match &#8211; HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Good match, but it would have been even better with a bit more time. I am happy that Rey Fenix is getting more of a focus. It&#8217;s clear that the AAA Cruiserweight title matches have replaced the US Championship open challenges as the top-quality matches on the program. I\u2019m not saying these are WCW Nitro Cruiserweight-level matches yet, but if they stick with this, they could have something unique for SmackDown.<\/p>\n<p><strong>TRICK WILLIAMS PROMO &#8211; MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As mentioned above, the AAA Cruiserweight Title matches have replaced the US Championship open challenges for the quality in-ring section of the program, and that&#8217;s largely due to Trick Williams being champion. He\u2019s fine as an in-ring wrestler, but at this stage, it&#8217;s clear his strength is his charisma, so the shift makes sense.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3922711895\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Now, the issues I am starting to have with his character are mostly down to Lil Yachty. It was fun for a little while, but he is kind of annoying. It now feels like WWE is so happy to have this man involved that they are shoehorning him into Trick&#8217;s presentation. I don&#8217;t think he needs him. It\u2019s actually muddying the waters on what Trick&#8217;s character now is.<\/p>\n<p>In this very segment, Lil Yachty acted like a heel, an annoying manager, and Trick struck popular face wrestler Carmelo Hayes with a cheap shot. Not good and just more confusion for the fans.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BRIE BELLA vs. LAINEY REID &#8211; MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>At only three minutes, you can\u2019t really say this was good. This was just to set up a Women&#8217;s Tag Team Championship match at SNME. Basic stuff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DAMIEN PRIEST &amp; R-TRUTH &#8211; VIKING RAIDERS BACKSTAGE SEGMENT &#8211; MISS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It sums up where the WWE Tag Team Championship status is when the setup to a title vs. title match was based around hot dogs. This was just awful.<\/p>\n<p>If the rumors of WWE wanting to rebuild the tag division are true, this is a bizarre way of starting it. Upcoming free agent tag teams (I\u2019m looking at you, FTR) won&#8217;t exactly be salivating about career prospects here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CODY RHODES vs. JEY USO &#8211; Number 1 contenders match for the Undisputed WWE Championship on Raw &#8211; HIT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Marginal hit. The match was okay, but you could tell the crowd was a bit burnt out, both from the double-taping and the continued problem of two faces against each other, which affected the &#8220;big match&#8221; aura. Jey eats another clean loss, so it\u2019s clear where he stands now. The main reason for the &#8220;Hit&#8221; here is what this sets up. It points to title ramifications and a potential blockbuster Raw on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Raw takes place in Chicago, and with SummerSlam now under a month away, a certain CM Punk is surely going to have a major role on Monday. The dreamers amongst us can imagine Punk returning to cost Cody to set up their match. But a heel turn in Chicago for Punk is nigh on impossible. A potential Cody vs. Punk match is huge, but with no heel-face dynamic, would it be as big as it could be? We shall see what takes place on Monday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FINAL THOUGHTS:<\/strong> Although a taped show, the switch to 2 hours made it much easier to watch.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (7\/3) - WWE Smackdown w\/Keller &amp; Machado\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/75Kh6QiTlvo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1305949409\"><div id=\"pwtor-2038246151\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>SAMI ZAYN CELEBRATION PROMO &#8211; HIT This gets a Hit because of what it sets up. Although it did start a bit odd, as the fans didn\u2019t really know how to respond to Sami. On <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/07\/05\/wwe-smackdown-hits-misses-7-3-did-samis-championship-win-celebration-land-as-intended-is-lil-yachty-past-his-expiration-date-in-wwe-rey-fenix-vs-vikingo-more\/\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN HITS &#038; MISSES (7\/3): Did Sami&#8217;s championship win celebration land as intended, is Lil Yachty past his expiration date in WWE, Rey Fenix vs. Vikingo, more\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-05-at-5.52.43-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218952,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218950\/revisions\/218952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}