SmackDown

Braun Strowman has finally won a singles title on the main roster afternoon the 3 ½ years – rejoice! Vince McMahon may not be quite sure what direction to take Shinsuke Nakamura after losing the Intercontinental Championship to Strowman. The former Royal Rumble winner has been a leaf in the wind for the past few months with no legitimate storyline – he has instead been doing Sami Zayn’s bidding with Cesaro.

The dog food element in the six-man tag team match between Roman Reigns and The Usos and King Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode was a bit much for me, but not everything is going to resonate with all WWE fans. It’s a major positive that Reigns and Corbin will be able to move into their primary programs for WrestleMania season as we are now on the road to the biggest show of the year; the feud has also run its course since October.

Perhaps no one is very certain how WWE’s fifth Saudi Arabia event will go. Many superstars who are at, or near, the top of the card have refused to go back to Saudi Arabia to perform again – either due to political issues they have with certain events that have transpired over there; or for others it is due to the travel issues they had in getting back from the last Saudi Arabia event, causing them to miss the November 1 episode of SmackDown. NXT filled in fortunately and drew a big rating.

Based on that, I don’t know if we should look forward to the event or not on February 27. Let’s cross our fingers and pray that all goes smoothly on this trip.

Alexa Bliss is noticeably improving in terms of selling for her opponents in the ring. Her facial expressions during matches are drastically improving so that she shows more emotion and thus connects with the WWE universe more. This was on full display this week in her tag team match with Nikki Cross against Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville (which Bliss Cross Applesauce won, indicating that they are gaining momentum in the women’s tag team division.

All storylines received nice pushes in preparation for Royal Rumble and achieved their goal of creating more anticipation for the PPV on January 26. The best segment of the night was the contract signing between Daniel Bryan and The Fiend, with the latter signing the contract in his own blood.

WWE’s main goal when it comes to aligning Sami Zayn, Cesaro, and Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura was clearly to spotlight Zayn’s mic work. The other two men fell into the background and appeared to be doing nothing for the most part except serving as henchmen for The Great Liberator.

The only thing that has been somewhat disappointing about this alliance is that Zayn’s incredible in-ring ability has been largely ignored for the last few months. That’s okay, however, because this is being done to get The Underdog of The Underground’s character moreover and to give the WWE universe more of a reason to get invested in his character. This will change by the middle of the year for sure because Sami is far too great of a talent to waste.

Lacey Evans will be a perennial babyface in WWE for years to come. The fact that she was a former Marine pretty much gives it away which side of the heel-face spectrum she will be on.

Elias just needs to keep doing what he’s doing (as The Miz has said during WWE Backstage). It’s working, especially now that he’s been a heel in the past. It’s almost easier to get over as a face if a superstar has been a heel in a past incarnation of his/her character. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily that way five or ten years ago, but it certainly is now.

And for the love of all things holy, something major needs to happen in what is most likely WWE’s most compelling storyline between Otis and Mandy Rose. Vince McMahon should be looking to push this particular story hard because the WWE universe right now seems to have a pretty high level of interest.

Several more Royal rumble matches were confirmed this week. The Miz and John Morrison have gained the upper hand on The New Day since Miz and Morrison have beaten both Kofi Kingston and Big E in singles matches. The newly reunited team of Miz and Morrison will provide very credible challengers for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships and that should provide more uncertainty than usual that The New Day will retain their titles.

Lacey Evans has now all but officially confirmed her SmackDown Women’s Championship match against Bayley, pinning her in a non-title match. Sheamus is also confirmed for a match for the first time in over nine months against Shorty G, playing his stereotypical role of the bully.

Roman Reigns also won his tables match against Robert Roode and subsequently chose the stipulation for his Royal Rumble match with King Corbin. Hopefully, this will be the final match of their feud. The match will now officially be a falls count anywhere match.

Everyone’s heart goes out to the Johnson family after the death of Rocky Johnson. He had to be extremely proud that it is now perfectly normal to have black tag team champions and WWE, with The New Day currently being champions and being seven-time champions (he and Tony Atlas were the first black men to ever hold these accolades).

It’s about time The Big Dog reclaimed his yard in WWE. Vince McMahon did not forget about Roman Reigns (his handpicked face of the company). Instead, he may have swallowed his pride and recognized that he elected to push Roman as a top babyface a little too early for the WWE universe to fully buy into. Now, after Reigns’ second successful triumph over leukemia, Vince spent 2019 building him up as a face in a believable manner.

Now that it’s 2020, Reigns is ready to face The Fiend at WrestleMania and probably defeat him. This time, The Big Dog deserves an extended run as Universal Champion, because unbelievably, he has not held a major championship for more than about two months.

The Miz’s heel turn is now in full swing, making him the fourth man The Fiend has changed as a person and the third man he has turned heel (the other three being Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and Daniel Bryan). The reason the storyline with The Fiend/Bray Wyatt is so intriguing is that there are so many different layers to it. John Morrison is also a de facto heel by association with Miz.

It certainly looks like we are headed towards a SmackDown Women’s Championship match between Lacey Evans and Bayley, who is working surprisingly well as a heel. I think it’s safe to say that no one was quite sure how, or if, she would be taken as a threat, but she is playing the role in a surprisingly believable manner.

The writing is on the wall for WWE to book an Intercontinental Championship match at Royal Rumble between the champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Braun Strowman. Strowman is pretty much guaranteed to win the recently redesigned IC Title and secure his first singles title in WWE (which is unbelievable). Maybe this could precipitate Nakamura undergoing a change of heart and switching his character to the babyface side of the equation.

In theory, Strowman should be taken way more seriously than he is today. One would think by default that he would be perceived as a major threat to win the men’s Royal Rumble match, but in reality, that idea would seem out of context with his character. It’s incredibly hard to believe, because The Monster Among Men should be (at least one would think) booked similarly to how Charlotte Flair is in Royal Rumble matches

Otis needs to become a major champion in WWE one day because he has money written all over him. It might take seven or eight years to build him as a legit title contender – but it will happen considering that he’s only 28 years old. He will be a force to be reckoned with in WWE for many years to come, but he will likely serve as a comedy act for the next several years.

His storyline with Mandy Rose is the best story going in WWE right now. The WWE universe resonates with it because there is some sort of unspoken quality about Otis that makes him very easy to root for. And the whole gimmick with the cakes is hilarious.

WWE fans, as well as the company itself, are surely be very excited about the return of The Usos since they had been such an integral mainstay within the company over the last decade. No one can be more excited than Roman Reigns since they are his cousins after all. It’s worth mentioned The Usos saved Reigns from having dog food poured on him again at the hands of King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler.

Speaking of Reigns, wrestling fans would be extremely pleased to see a WrestleMania 36 main event between him and Daniel Bryan. Unfortunately, I think this is wishful thinking. It’s so hard at this point to see a scenario where Reigns beats The Fiend for the Universal Championship since The Fiend is quite clearly the hottest act in WWE and is the company’s no. 1 merch seller.

WWE will be able to capitalize on the fact that The Miz is being mentally beaten down by The Fiend/Bray Wyatt and possibly turning heel because of it. This combined with the fact that he and John Morrison are such close friends, Morrison could be inserted into one of the major programs on SmackDown.

Sheamus also made his return on this past week’s episode of SD. It is so great to see that he didn’t officially retire as some thought he might due to all the injuries he’s suffered throughout his career. In hindsight (which is always 20/20), fans may have been able to see this coming because he was still working like crazy and is probably in the best shape of his entire career, at 41 years old (almost 42).

Dana Brooke is deserving of all the opportunities she gets from this point forward, because she has spent close to 3 ½ years on the main roster and has been underutilized and overlooked. She has more than paid her dues at this point (the most significant thing anyone remembers her doing is being the statistician for Titus Worldwide).

This obviously isn’t the main program here, it’s between Bayley and Lacey Evans, who will likely be booked in a SmackDown Women’s Championship match at Royal Rumble, and Bayley will finally defend her title.

Braun Strowman will likely be booked in an Intercontinental Championship match with Shinsuke Nakamura. Strowman desperately needs a victory at Royal Rumble. Frankly, if I had never watched WWE programming before and someone told me that Strowman had never won a singles title before after being on the main roster for over three years, I would say, “Are you kidding me? That’s a major programming error!”

WWE and Bruce Prichard (Executive Director of SD) have opted to book a number one contender’s match between the newly shaven, American Dragon looking Daniel Bryan, The Miz and Baron Corbin. Bryan should earn the title opportunity because the audience cares about his story with Bray Wyatt/The Fiend more than either of the other two men.

Miz is playing the role of a supporting character in Daniel’s story, and Corbin has no connection with The Fiend – he simply wants a Universal Title opportunity as another perceived steppingstone in his career after defeating Roman Reigns, the top guy in the company.

When the three men first made their entrances on SD, I figured WWE might be choosing to book a fatal four-way match at Royal rumble for the Universal Title, because Vince McMahon has not orchestrated many multi-person championship matches recently.

Heavy Machinery and The Revival were the perfect two teams for WWE to book for the Miracle on 34^th Street Fight this year. The match typically involves food – and Otis obviously loves food – and The Revival is in the process of settling into a new role in WWE as a comedy act.

The New Day are by far the most consistent act in WWE (Xavier Woods gets a pass since he is rehabbing a ruptured Achilles tendon). They are simply always doing something in WWE – usually elevating the tag team division (Kofi Kingston’s six month-long WWE Championship reign was a nice change of pace).

WWE fans must be inclined to believe that the time to start getting impatient is now regarding the push of Braun Strowman. He’s like a way more athletic version of Big Show and has been on the main roster for well over three years.

At some point, the WWE universe must wonder what is keeping WWE from making him a top star. Is Vince McMahon that concerned with his character? Who knows, but I kind of feel for Strowman at this point.

WWE could have lightning in a bottle with Mustafa Ali if he is used correctly. WWE may want to think about giving him a Daniel Bryan-like push in which the WWE universe gets very much behind him and determines the extent to which he is pushed. His Middle Eastern heritage should be highlighted as well because it will most likely get him sympathy if it’s presented the right way because people with Middle Eastern heritage are oftentimes stereotyped.

Another nice addition to the TLC card could potentially be Shinsuke Nakamura defending his Intercontinental Championship perhaps against Mustafa Ali. Ali defeated Nakamura months ago in a televised non-title match but never received a Pay-Per-View match for the IC Title.

Dana Brooke received a nice spotlight in the form of a match with Bayley this week, but who knows if that will last. WWE appears hesitant these days to give anyone superstar in particular a sufficient amount of TV time to make them into a massive superstar. It seems that WWE’s corporate structure is focused on giving as many superstars as possible – male or female – an equal amount of airtime. No one wants to make anyone into the next Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins Daniel Bryan, or Becky Lynch.

This phenomenon did not exist 20 years ago when there were five or six massive stars in the company. There were people like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Triple H, and to a slightly lesser degree Rikishi and Mick Foley.

It was also nice to see Kofi Kingston acknowledge and explain his thoughts on his WWE Championship loss to Brock Lesnar, which enables him to completely move on and onto something better. Hopefully, one more WWE Championship victory is in store for him. He ended up being a much better champion than most would have anticipated.

The Miz has been seamlessly integrated into the storyline between Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. It makes perfect sense to do this after a few weeks of backstage encounters between Bryan and Miz. Maybe Daniel will end up facing Wyatt at Royal Rumble. Despite the fact that Miz is getting him at TLC, Daniel Bryan is the larger protagonist of the current story with Bray Wyatt/The Fiend. The Miz is more of a supporting character at this point.

King Corbin is doing an excellent job of integrating the King gimmick into his character; he’s doing that almost as well as Booker T did years ago. The King accomplished exactly what he set out to do and that is embarrassing Roman Reigns. Hopefully, Vince McMahon doesn’t opt to try to execute a Dog Collar match between Corbin and The Big Dog, because adding this gimmick to the match may be a little over-the-top.

The December 6 edition of SmackDown on FOX was the first time since The Revival came to the main roster that WWE has made its intention of establishing them as a legit tag team (even though they have been Tag Team Champions twice before). They may even go on to win the SmackDown Tag Team Titles from The New Day. They are beginning to establish themselves as top guys; it will also serve as a good excuse to get the titles off The New Day.

Lacey Evans may have officially been established as a babyface this week, talking about her daughter and the fact that she is a former Marine. She benefited from working with a top-notch heel like Sasha Banks.

Fortunately, I was wrong a few months ago when I talked about how Sheamus might have retired after ‘Mania in April due to his ongoing spinal stenosis. He is back and will now be going into singles competition. Sheamus is almost 42 years old, so he might not be a world champion again because his health might not hold up, but he can’t be used as a very reliable superstar to put over some of the young on the roster.

Side Note: WWE may have finally figured out what to do with Elias because his character seems to have a whole lot more direction now that he is back as a face.

Also, Mustafa Ali and Shorty G got the proverbial short end of the stick this past week because their single’s credibility took a little bit of a blow. It’s okay because The Revival significantly benefited and is established as a legit threat in the tag team division.

A pattern is beginning to develop with all three of The Fiend’s opponents. After he has had an encounter with them, they have all immediately undergone a character change. Think about it: immediately after Finn Balor had a match with The Fiend, he returned to NXT and turned heel. The same thing with Seth Rollins, who underwent the final transformation in a character change just this week.

Now the same thing is happening with Daniel Bryan. He is at a crossroads in his career. He is in the process of deciding whether or not he will be The New Daniel Bryan from now on or if The Yes! Movement will return (which it looks like it will be the latter, and fans have to love that).

The New Day celebrated a victory on their 5-year anniversary, which was very appropriate. It is absolutely unheard of for a group in the sports entertainment industry to last for five years because they almost always grow stale. It’s only happened a few times in history, so congratulations to The New Day.

Lacey Evans was given an unexpected spotlight this week. When she first debuted on the main roster, she was presented as a very annoying Baron Corbin-type of character, which didn’t suit her. However, now that Vince McMahon has discovered the ideal character for her, he can push the former Marine to the top.

It appears Lacey Evans may receive a SmackDown Women’s Championship match at the TLC Pay-Per-View. One has to wonder what WWE will decide to do with Nikki Cross, since she pinned Bayley just a few weeks ago. She may be reforming her tag team with Alexa Bliss, who returned on this Black Friday edition of SmackDown.

For all the scrutiny SmackDown has gotten since moving to FOX, the quality of the show is pretty damn good with WWE settling into its new home. The show is starting to feel more like an actual sporting event, as promised. My hypothesis is… this is due to the pace of the show slowing down and not feeling so frantic, as is the case with some other wrestling/sports entertainment programs.

It’s very hard for one to tell whether Daniel Bryan is a face or heel in his rivalry with Bray Wyatt. He is so introverted, maybe he’s going after tweener territory, which might be a good spot for him at this point in his career.

The blue Universal Championship to match the color of SmackDown (even though I personally think red suits the character of The Fiend better).

Maybe Vince McMahon will wind up changing Shorty G’s name back to Chad Gable in several months like he just did with Ali by adding the “Mustafa” back into his name.

Side Note: I will not be writing about next week’s go-home episode of SD before Survivor Series because I travel to Philadelphia.