Five Thoughts on This Week’s WWE SmackDown

Coming off what would have to be considered a very good PPV event on Sunday night (well, except for that main event finish), we had every reason to believe WWE would have something good in store for us this week on SmackDown Live.

Did that come to pass? Well, there were certainly some memorable bits, one of which should turn into a long term storyline over the next couple weeks. We also had a very good match in the second hour of the show between two of the best workers on the brand.

Let’s dive right in to some thoughts on this week’s incarnation of the blue brand.

1. Who Will It Be?

The opening segment centered on promoting a match between Daniel Bryan and The Miz for WWE Super Show-Down in two weeks that will crown a number one contender. The Miz, during an edition of MizTV, plugged this item as breaking news (despite the match being announced by WWE over three weeks ago).

The segment itself saw Miz announce that Maryse would be leaving WWE soon to go back home to be with their child. Bryan came out and was supposed to have accidentally injured Maryse in the process. Of course, it played out as predictable as you would think, with Maryse faking the injury so that Miz could attack Bryan from behind. Only Bryan didn’t fall for it this time and avoided a Skull Crushing Finale. 

With AJ Styles in the midst of a title run closing in on one year, this bout will be incredibly interesting because it will tell us so much about the championship picture, not just from now until the end of the year, likely all the way until WrestleMania 35. There are so many directions that this all could go, and I’ll be exploring some of them in greater depth in a column later this week here at ComicBook.

Both The Miz and Bryan will be more than suitable foes for AJ Styles or Samoa Joe as WWE Champion. Miz has been one of the top heels in the company for several years now and is doing the best work of his career. And Daniel Bryan is, well, Daniel freaking Bryan. Fans have been waiting for him to main event since he was cleared last March. 

2. A Beautiful Split

Rusev Day finally came to a halt on Tuesday evening and I’m excited to see where things go from here.

After some teases in recent weeks, it all came to a head on Tuesday night. First, English was caught by Lana backstage saying some negative things about herself and Rusev to a WWE crew member. Then, following English inadvertently costing Rusev the U.S. title in a match with Shinsuke Nakamura later in the show, English attacked his teammate with a microphone in the ring following the bout.

Lana looked on in horror until shrieking at English to get the hell out of dodge. 

English will be a very good heel in this feud and Rusev, who has been incredibly popular virtually all of this year (really, since the Rusev Day t-shirts were released) should get yet another boost from the crowd. 

This will be good. 

3. New Contenders, Step Right Up

Following The New Day vanquishing the now recently divorced team of Rusev Day at Hell In A Cell on Sunday, the tag team champions have already transitioned into a new championship feud. 

By the way, if you didn’t see Rusev Day’s final hurrah in their match with The New Day at Hell In A Cell (it was on the kickoff show), seek it out. It was very, very good. 

The Bar, Cesaro and Sheamus, are the next team in line for a championship opportunity. Cesaro defeated Kofi Kingston clean following a Neutralizer on SmackDown this week, and this was a mere taste of what we should get in a couple of weeks when the teams face off for the titles at Super Show-Down.

Personally, I am really looking forward to this feud and hope to see The Bar get an opportunity to run with the belts coming out of it at some point. While The New Day have always been and continue to be great, it would be nice for a little bit of a shake-up in the tag division. 

4. Two Work Horses Got After It

AJ Styles and Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas, two of the best between the ropes that SmackDown has to offer, had a very good television match this week as Zelina Vega watched on from ringside and Samoa Joe waited to pounce. 

The two of them were given a good amount of time to produce something memorable and they showed that if Almas continues his ascension (what happened to those guys?) up the ladder, a championship feud between these two at some point in time would be a welcome sight.

Following the match (which was won clean by Styles following a Styles Clash), Samoa Joe blindsided the champ. After a brief beat down, Styles turned the brawl around and Joe had to bail through the crowd.

Joe, who got the visual victory over Styles at Hell In A Cell despite the official result (Styles tapped out just before he pinned Joe, upon replay review), is certainly an appealing possible champion as he is in the midst of one of the best runs of his career.

That being said, it’s hard to know if WWE actually sees Joe as someone capable of holding the title or just a great foe to the present champion. I’d love to see a title change, but then again much of the direction coming out of Australia will revolve around if a heel or face wins the Bryan vs. Miz match.

5. Becky Got Her Moment to Shine

SmackDown closed with Becky Lynch having a championship celebration in the ring with General Manager Paige. The belt with Becky’s new name plates was unveiled and handed over to the new champion. 

Though Lynch didn’t bash the crowd and act like a heel in that regard, a direction the company tried for exactly one show coming out of SummerSlam, she was still scripted largely as a traditional heel here.

That’s because Charlotte Flair was called out, and upon the former champion getting in the ring face to face with Lynch, Becky preceded to demean her with arrogant demands to raise her hand, and then to actually snap the championship belt around her waste for her. Of course, Charlotte refused to do so and was portrayed as the sympathetic babyface.

In the end, they got into a brawl after Lynch once again called Charlotte a bitch. The crowd was entirely with Lynch, who ended the brawl standing tall holding up the title belt on the ramp as the fans chanted “Becky.” 

This is quite interesting to watch as the fans just aren’t with Charlotte as the sympathetic figure chasing the title belt. Though WWE has been reluctant to do the so called “double switch” with these two, which would consist of a full on heel turn by Charlotte, they may be forced to do so eventually given the reactions Becky continues to get and the lack of reaction Charlotte gets when across from her.

Charlotte has always excelled more as a heel, so if she goes fully in that direction and gets what would obviously be some very loud boos from the crowd (compared to the faint ones that she does now since she hasn’t turned on the fans), it will only help to strengthen the raw emotion present when these two face off for the title. 

Other Thoughts

• Randy Orton was on the show, but solely in a backstage segment where he harassed the television crew into showing highlights of his match with Jeff Hardy. The announcers warned whomever Orton’s next opponent is that the Viper is in a bad place.
• Asuka had a match with Billie Kay while Peyton Royce and Naomi looked on from ringside. Asuka won the match but man, her fortunes have really fallen on hard times of late and it’s really a missed opportunity for WWE. Asuka’s clean loss to Charlotte at WrestleMania was the start of the down turn and one has to wonder if that was really the best booking decision now in hindsight. 
• Would love to hear your thoughts on the show. Drop us a line in the comments or throw me a Tweet over @HistoricalRyan.