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Each week, The Reporters put their thumbs out to the good and the bad in the world of sports. This week they discuss Chris Froomes victory at the Tour de France, Mariano Riveras final appearance at the All-Star Game, Nick Faldos criticism of Rory McIlroy and the retractable roof at Rogers Centre. Bruce Arthur, National Post: My thumb is up to Chris Froome for winning the Tour de France in unbelievable fashion, or maybe too believable. He made it look so easy. Hes going to have the biggest winning margin since Lance Armstrong in 2004. Hes going to have the most stage wins for a champion since Lance Armstrong in 2004. He climbed the hard part of Mont Ventoux, the really gut-busting stuff, faster than anyone in history except for Lance Armstrong in 2002. He looked a lot like Lance Armstrong, which of course means that thats not very good. Lance Armstrong doesnt exist as far as the Tour de France is concerned anymore. All those accomplishments have been wiped from history. Chris Froome has won the Tour de France, which means now we wait. So its a thumbs up until proven otherwise. Steve Simmons, Sun Media: My thumb is up to Mariano Rivera, who not only saved the MLB All-Star Game without registering a save but he brought us a view of something we otherwise wouldnt have seen. There wasnt much reason to watch the game on Tuesday, frankly theres little reason anymore to do so, but the story was Rivera in his 13th and final All-Star Game. When was he going to pitch, how was he going to pitch, how was manager Jim Leyland going to use him. And all eyes, fans, media, ball players were on him the entire game. When he pitched his scoreless inning in the eighth and was named Most Valuable Player, even though he was only one of 13 pitchers to pitch one scoreless inning in the All-Star Game, no one questioned the choice. Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated: My thumb is down to Sir Nick Faldo for scolding the British Open and climbing all over Rory McIlroy for his work ethic. Its unfortunate because McIlroy is having a tough year, no doubt, and Faldo was right when he said McIlroy shouldnt have changed a winning game, shouldnt have changed clubs, switching to Nike, but McIlroy puts in the work. In his criticism, Faldo sounded like the old man yelling a kids to get off his lawn. And in this case, the lawn was storied Muirfield. Dave Hodge, TSN: Every once in a while, theres a reason to praise Rogers Centre, specifically for its retractable roof. Friday was one of those times. A mammoth storm hit southern Ontario and the Rogers roof allowed a baseball game to be played and baseball fans to be dry and safe, albeit with a stadium evacuation plan ready if needed and displayed on the Rogers Jumbotron. Circumstances forced me to leave the Blue Jays and the Tampa Rays in the early innings to deal with matters at home. It was a wild night, but pretty normal inside the Rogers Centre. Insert a line here if you want about the Blue Jays 8-5 loss adding to the normalcy.Courtland Sutton Jersey . Pence singled in the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to give the Giants a 7-6 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. Peyton Manning Broncos Jersey . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. http://www.thebroncosstoreonline.com/Youth-Brian-Dawkins-Broncos-Jerseys/ . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. In the relay, Canada took control six laps from the finish line to beat Russia and the Netherlands. Peyton Manning Womens Jersey .Y. -- Bills receiver Stevie Johnson has a bone to pick with the NFL schedule maker. Noah Fant Broncos Jersey . -- Mike Smith never saw his first NHL goal go in.The balancing act that has to be maintained after a major pay-per-view is challenging, to say the least. Major rivalries often reach their peak or even conclusion, leaving several top stars needing opponents.At the same time, you dont want to throw away all of the hard work, time and effort youve put into the build-up to a show like that, especially if its one of the biggest pay-per-views of the year, like WrestleMania or, in this case, SummerSlam. Sometimes the answers arent so clear-cut.SmackDown Live finds itself in a much different position from Raw in its first show back from SummerSlam. Tuesdays show didnt have to deal with losing a top champion to injury for up to six months the night after introducing a new title, but it did have to take on a few more subtle challenges.An underwhelming world championship at SummerSlam, the time?Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler had to tell a story and a laundry list of other issues left its two competitors heading in different directions. Ambrose came out smelling like a rose, every bit the champion hes asserted to being, and Ziggler was seemingly left to return and languish in some nebulous position between the midcard and the main event.Within the first two minutes of Tuesdays episode of SmackDown Live, it became clear they were going to address some of those issues. The show opened with several superstars aimlessly hanging around the locker room. Enter AJ Styles, the conquering hero (or villain, depending on your perspective) who dispatched John Cena in a 23-minute match that stole the show Sunday night in Brooklyn. As popular as Styles has been since his January debut at the Royal Rumble, and through multiple title matches with Roman Reigns and several other high-profile opponents, nothing quite elevated The Phenomenal One like pinning Cena in the middle of the ring, no strings attached, at one of the biggest WWE shows of the year.Styles wore the Never Give Up headband Cena ceremoniously left behind in the middle of the ring after their epic clash and immediately set about telling anyone who would listen that he was now The Face that Runs the Place, taking up Cenas mantle. Ziggler sat dejectedly in his seat as this went on, but when Styles got in his face, it was all he could take, triggering a brawl between the two that spilled through the next two hours.The pair fought through the end of the presentation of the two new SmackDown-exclusive titles and set up general manager Daniel Bryan to lay down the law; Styles victory was an impressive enough showing that he had earned his way into a WWE world championship match against Ambrose at Backlash, but Ziggler had shown himself worthy enough to have a chance to earn his way in -- and beating Styles would be his ticket.This main event match featured much of what makes a showdown between two dynamic and physically gifted wrestlers great -- high-risk maneuvers, incredible agility and styles that mesh well together. There was also a simple story to follow -- either Ziggler would redeem himself and earn another shot at Ambrose or Styles would notch yet another impressive victory and further confirm his status as clear-cut No. 1 contender with a one-on-one opportunity at the champion.Styles picked up the victory, and it once again came in a straightforward manner without a hint of cheating or nefariousness -- leaving no doubt as to his position. For Ziggler, it seems hes only just begun to experience the downward spiral that almost certainly lies ahead -- and with each loss, the chatter of his inability to win the big one will only grow louder.Introducing the SmackDown womens championship and tag-team championshipsSummerSlams introduction of the Universal championship checked about every box on reactions that are best avoided at all costs. That didnt just apply to the reaction to the bright new red belt -- a clear variant of the existing WWE world championship -- but that vitriol disrupted an otherwise compelling match between Finn Balor and Seth Rollins.SmackDown seemed to avoid that with the introduction of its new womens and tag-team championship titles. First off, they were out on display rather than set up for a big reveal. There was no promise for a particularly crazy design, and therefore they didnt have impossible expectations to meet.Second, and perhaps most importantly, these alterations offered either a lateral move (in the case of the SmackDown womens championship) or a significant upgrade over the originals (the SmackDown tag-team championships) over their Raw counterparts. In the case of the latter, the titles currently held by the New Day, which feature copper plates on a black leather belt, have long been derided as the least visually pleasing among all of the WWE titles.The method by which each championship is to be decided added further excitement to the reveal. The tag-team tournament is a great touch, allowing all of the teams an opportunity to show off, setting up a chance for thhe victor to claim superiority over the entire division.dddddddddddd It also fills the need for some must-see content each week on SmackDown, leading to its first brand-exclusive pay-per-view, Backlash.If you doubt how well a tournament format like this works, just look at the CWC and the impact it has had through its first six weeks.The womens championship six pack challenge makes each woman a legitimate title threat right off the bat, presenting a chance to establish a true hierarchy in the division among the six participants.Hits and missesHeath Slater made an appearance toward the tail end of the ceremony celebrating the reveal of the new titles and staked his claim for a shot. Even as a three-time WWE tag-team champion, Slater was once again forced to jump through hoops for the chance of a contract. This time around, hed have to find a partner and, with that done, win the entire tournament.While there werent nearly as many failed attempts throughout Tuesdays broadcast, it was a well-executed rule of threes as Slater unsuccessfully asked both The Miz and Arn Anderson to be his partner. Finally, Rhyno, who had previously prevented Slater from winning a contract, offered his services as a tag-team partner to lock the pair into a spot in the tournament.Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt is a compelling direction to go in for both men. After Wyatts involvement with Ambrose and Ziggler seemingly fizzled out, at least for now, he was left off the SummerSlam card entirely. Orton had an unfortunate ending to his showdown with Brock Lesnar, and both superstars are angling for a move to bigger and better things. Each has something to prove, and if this works out correctly they should both get the chance.SmackDowns first match (out of just four actual bouts on the show) was a short showdown between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss. While it seems Bliss still needs some work on moving more smoothly in the ring, she hit a few spots over the course of the match that showed her potential. The match scheduled between Carmella and the returning Nikki Bella never began, as Carmella attacked Nikki from behind to start what increasingly seems like a more sinister turn of character for the Princess of Staten Island. More on that later.Two of the four opening-round matches in the SmackDown tag-team championship tournament took place Tuesday night, with the prohibitive favorites to win the tournament each advancing to the semifinals. It started with The Usos grabbing a victory from The Ascension, which was followed by a somewhat surprisingly compelling match between American Alpha and Breezing. Rather than feeling like a throwaway situation, the seeds for the beginnings of the tag-team division on the blue brand can be tied back to conscious efforts at SummerSlam, even in something as seemingly innocuous and disposable as a 12-man tag-team rematch.EXCLUSIVE: We didnt come here to have great matches, we came here to WIN TITLES! @WWEGable @JasonJordanJJ #SDLive https://t.co/FBmeirMHcU- WWE (@WWE) August 24, 2016The insinuation of a future showdown between Lesnar and Shane McMahon could be among the most compelling possibilities for the future, given the right circumstances.Talking Smack is on fireTalking Smack, the 30-minute post-show for SmackDown Live hosted by Daniel Bryan and Renee Young that airs every week on the WWE Network, has taken significant and worthwhile steps toward completing two noteworthy tasks -- getting fans to head back to the WWE Network to watch new and live original content and blurring the lines between whats real and whats fake.On Tuesday, it began with Nikki Bella casually discussing the severity of her neck injury in great detail until she was blindsided by yet another attack from Carmella. They were followed by the Usos, who discussed a wide variety of topics, including the acknowledgement of how being paired with Roman Reigns has affected their crowd reaction.@WWEDanielBryan says @MikeTheMiz wrestles like a coward. And the IC Champ explodes on #TalkingSmack! #SDLive https://t.co/hgarcKmuj4- WWE Network (@WWENetwork) August 24, 2016It all led up to The Miz and Maryse invading the Talking Smack set. Having not been used for anything on Tuesdays broadcast, other than a quick spot in Slaters comedic search for a tag partner, Miz came out guns blazing demanding an answer as to why that would be the case for the Intercontinental champion. After Bryan took some seemingly cheap shots at Miz, he unleashed a tirade proclaiming his value to the company. In the process, he used the word coward, which was part of Bryans initial comedic response. The Miz cut one of the most memorable promos of his career on Bryan and eventually left him walking off the set.Its exactly the kind of content the WWE craves -- the kind that goes viral and tests the boundaries of real and fake.an and eventually left him walking off the s ' ' '