WWE Smackdown Live results and observations (7/18/17): Battleground is upon us

The Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala. was Smackdown Live's final stop on the road to Battleground, which will emanate from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia this coming weekend.

Before Smackdown Live attempts to enthrall fans here in the City of Brotherly Love, it had the task of injecting some final hype for Battleground.

Unfortunately, the blue brand fell short of accomplishing that goal.

I feel like I have said this about Smackdown Live for several weeks now, but this installment of the show was rather pedestrian, which is what the show has been overall for a while now.

It hasn't been downright awful, but it hasn't been anything to write home about either. The in-ring action on Smackdown Live has delivered and this week's show was no different.

Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch put together arguably the best match of the night and the tag team main event was very good as well.

However, the stories being told on Smackdown Live feel very uninspired at the moment. I almost feel like I could have skipped the last two months of programming and would not have missed much when it comes to the stories.

Before I go too far down this path, here are the full match results:

- Jimmy Uso def. Kofi Kingston

- Mike Kanellis def. Sami Zayn

- Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair

- Kevin Owens & Baron Corbin def. AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura

Smackdown Live has become USA vs. The World

A good chunk of the reason why I feel like Smackdown Live's stories have felt so uninspired is because three of the show's main programs all have patriotic themes to them.

I understand that the upcoming pay-per-view is called Battleground, which invokes a war-like theme. It doesn't hurt that it is July and us Americans celebrate the anniversary of country's independence, but having three stories — Mahal versus Orton, John Cena versus Rusev and Styles versus Owens — with essentially the same theme is a little ridiculous.

I didn't really notice this until Cena's promo Tuesday night, when he talked about how ready he was for his flag match against Rusev at Battleground.

But what struck me the most about Cena's promo was all of the patriotic themes he used. He talked about how America is a nation that fights and that he is going to stand and fight Rusev Sunday in defense of our great country.

Rusev eventually ran down and ambushed Cena and garnered plenty of boos, but it struck me that Rusev is essentially playing the same role that Jinder Mahal and Owens are playing.

Sure, each man is playing the role in his own way, but they are essentially heels that are only heels because they are not from the United States. That is definitely the case when it comes to Mahal and Rusev.

You could argue that Owens' feud with Styles is less patriotic than the other two, but when you have a Canadian calling himself the "Face of America" and fighting for the United States championship against an American, it is hard to argue that there aren't at least some similarities.

These three storylines running at the same time is repetitive, but it is a troupe WWE — and professional wrestling in general — has relied upon for decades.

Simply put, I'm tired of it.

Back in the day, when wrestling in this country was territorial, I could understand why promotions did these types of stories. They always worked. Heck, you could argue they still work until this day.

But WWE routinely toots its own horn for being a global company, which is true. WWE is not just the largest wrestling promotion in the world by default. It certainly lives up to that distinction. It earned it by touring in countries all over the world multiple times a year.

According to its own corporate web site, WWE broadcasts its television programs in 20 different languages and has a over-the-top streaming service, the WWE Network, that is available in 180 countries, which means it has fans in a lot of the places these villains are representing. WWE even has offices in eight different countries outside of the United States.

Like I said, WWE is a worldwide brand, but for whatever reason, it continues to make people that are not from America villains.

To put a nice bow on this, the foreign heel story is a troupe WWE has relied upon for far too long and I personally want to see something different. Also, it really doesn't make any sense for a company that is as global as WWE is to continue to use it at this point.

The Fashion X-Files

Outside of the two matches I pointed out earlier, the only other positive thing of note from this show was the latest chapter of Breezango's quest to find out who trashed their office.

This week, it was dubbed the Fashion X-Files and it was fantastic yet again.

Tyler Breeze dressed up as Dana Scully from The X-Files, Aiden English made a cameo and the hilarious board in the background was hilarious yet again.

Although the top stories on Smackdown Live feel rather repetitive, Breezango's skits always feel different. The only constant is that they all make me laugh hysterically.

Chad Gable broke his silence

Lost in all of the madness surrounding Jason Jordan and Kurt Angle on Raw was where it left Chad Gable, as he suddenly lost his tag team partner as a result.

Gable gave his thoughts on the situation Tuesday in the form of a sit-down interview with Renee Young, who suddenly needs stuff to do after WWE canceled Talking Smack, which I am still very upset about.

Apparently, Gable found out about all of this when the rest of us did and admitted that he was not happy about that, but calmed down after Jordan explained to him why he kept everything under wraps.

As for his future, Gable said that while he sad to see American Alpha become a thing of the past, he believes Jordan leaving for Raw only opened the door for him to step into his own spotlight.

Gable said that he had some things up his sleeves, but refused to disclose what that is when asked by Young.

Gable's physical talent is undeniable, but that only gets people so far in WWE. Just ask Apollo Crews.

Fortunately, it looks like he will be given a legitimate chance to blossom into the superstar he has the potential to become.

Kanellis uses the Power of Love to win debut

After weeks of showing the world that he loves his woman, Mike Kanellis finally got into the ring Tuesday night for a match against Zayn.

With the help of his wife Maria Kanellis, Mike Kanellis was able to pull off the win in his debut.

The match itself was short and forgettable. What was memorable, however, was Mike Kanellis' attire, which had his wife painted all over it. Rick Rude would have been proud.

Although Kanellis defeated Zayn Tuesday, I fully expect this feud to continue.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.