Dark before and dark after. Almost every week, WWE has a handful of dark matches after Monday Night Raw and before and after SmackDown Live. These can be a pretty standard match and a way to practice a few upcoming pay per view matches. Other times though, you can get something unique that you would never get to see again. Those are the fun ones and we got two of them tonight.

That’s before and after so make sure to check out the middle, meaning our SmackDown Live results right here.

According to Wrestlinginc.com, the dark match before this week’s SmackDown Live saw Asuka and Naomi team up to defeat Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose. After the show ended, the team of AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy defeated Randy Orton and Samoa Joe. The men’s match is a combination of two major feuds and only Styles and Orton appeared on this week’s show. Naomi hasn’t wrestled on television since Money in the Bank on June 17.

Make sure to check out what Styles had to say to Samoa Joe in a great promo.

AJ Styles returns to respond to Samoa Joe: SmackDown LIVE, Aug. 7, 2018

Opinion: I like it when WWE makes these tag matches for the dark segments. You can have the same singles matches every week but throwing together a team like Samoa Joe and Orton is something you’re not going to get to see anywhere else. That’s cool stuff and makes the show feel like something that gives the fans something special. It also helps when you can get a few extra big names on the card, which can always help bring up attendance.

Which of these matches interests you more? Do you think either will take place on TV? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28 wrestling books. His latest book is the the Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!

MORE IN WRESTLING

  • Who Will Challenge The Bludgeon Brothers At Summerslam?

    News
  • Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz: WWE’s Inevitable SummerSlam Showdown

    WWE
  • SmackDown Live Coverage – August 7, 2018

    Live Coverage
  • Video: Major Match Confirmed For Summerslam

    News
  • Not So Fast. Is Brock Lesnar Actually Leaving WWE After Summerslam?

    News
  • Injury Update On Aleister Black Doesn’t Look Good *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

    News
  • You Will Be Able To See All In, And Partially For FREE

    News
  • Big Title Match Set For Next Week’s Monday Night Raw

    News
  • Third Time’s The Charm: New Match Set For Summerslam

    News
  • Major League Wrestling Battle Riot Results

    News