DID WWE HOLD KEVIN OWENS BACK AGAINST CM PUNK??

SmackDown fell flat tonight. Coming off SummerSlam, WWE had Kevin Owens returning as the No. 1 contender, CM Punk as champion, Randy Orton turning against Cody Rhodes, and the surprise debut of Tatum Paxley alongside the returning Alexa Bliss. On paper, this should have been a loaded episode of SmackDown — but somehow, the show never really found its rhythm. The biggest issue for me was Kevin Owens and CM Punk. There was clearly a lot of potential in that confrontation, and Owens delivered some strong material, including taking shots at Punk's ego and the way he treats people. But I couldn't help feeling like Owens was being held back. When you have Kevin Owens standing face-to-face with CM Punk, I wanted him to go much further. Instead, it felt like we got the version of the promo WWE was comfortable giving us rather than the version Owens could have delivered. And that's frustrating because there were plenty of other things happening tonight. Baron Corbin retained the United States Championship against Trick Williams, Fatal Influence retained the Women's Tag Team Championship, Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton's issues continued, Randy Orton gave one of the stronger promos of the night against Cody Rhodes, and Tatum Paxley made her SmackDown debut, helping Charlotte Flair defeat Jade Cargill alongside Alexa Bliss. So despite having Kevin Owens, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, Alexa Bliss, Tatum Paxley, Charlotte Flair and Jade Cargill all on the same episode, I came away thinking this was a missed opportunity. There were pieces of a great SmackDown here — they just never quite came together. #WWE #SmackDown #KevinOwens #CMPunk #codyrhodes For business related inquiries contact me at: [email protected]