The Big Dog and The Messiah are creating new stars in The Uso’s and Murphy – bringing them up to the top-tier
So The Uso’s are out of the Samoan Dynasty – the Anoa’i family – if Jey Uso is unable to win the Universal Championship from his cousin Roman Reigns in the first-ever “I Quit” Hell In A Cell match. This could be setting the stage for the faction on SmackDown which is most likely going to manifest within the next several weeks, with The Uso’s as the first two members. Throughout the initiation process, they will most likely become subservient to The Samoan Tribal Chief.
An interesting fact is that Jey Uso became the first WWE superstar to pin Roman Reigns on the main roster in September 2013 when the odds were stacked against The Shield (they had already established themselves as a dominant faction 10 months earlier).
This is exactly what the WWE universe has been waiting to see from Murphy – a Pay-Per-View quality match with a top-level superstar (not sure why the company would not elect to schedule a match like this for two days later at HIAC – most likely because nearly all of WWE’s revenue in the last few years has come from TV). SmackDown tends to place a heavier amount of emphasis and focus on quality in-ring performances, so someone like Murphy will fit right in. He actually has history on the blue brand as he previously had encounters with Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns (losses) before he became the disciple of Seth Rollins.
Rollins, meanwhile, is accomplishing his primary goal right now of putting over younger superstars like Murphy. WWE bookers are also looking to gradually segue the Mysterio family out of this storyline, making it a rivalry involving just Seth Rollins and Murphy (to give Murph more of a direct spotlight.
The seemingly never-ending saga between Sasha Banks and Bayley may be coming to an end (or at least there’s an avenue for it to potentially end)
Sasha and Bayley have been heavily featured in the same storyline since becoming the first-ever Women’s Tag Team Champions in February 2019. But not just that – they have been featured in the same storyline with one another on and off for the better part of the last 3.5 years. After this long it may be time for WWE to finally move on from this storyline, simply because it’s getting a little repetitive.
Maybe just have Sasha win the SmackDown Women’s Championship and move on. WWE originally planned for this storyline between Bayley and Sasha Banks to end several months ago, but both women were embracing their roles so effectively. Because of that the company made the decision to keep the tag team titles on them for a few more months.
Chad Gable and JBL unexpectedly get a significant amount of time to shine this week
Shorty G quit just like JBL did at WrestleMania 25 in 2009 (good foreshadowing considering there is an “I Quit” match scheduled featuring the face of the company this Sunday). He didn’t quit wrestling altogether; he just doesn’t want to embody his current persona any longer of “excepting who he is” (King Corbin gave him the moniker Shorty G last year at Hell In A Cell). Lars Sullivan looked dominant as always, but Chad Gable was the real priority here, which was refreshing to see as he hasn’t been taken seriously since tagging with Shelton Benjamin in 2017 – 18.
JBL and Ron Simmons presided over the trial between Otis and The Miz. The match between these two men this Sunday will have actual stakes (unlike Elias – Jeff Hardy). Otis may be more of a comedy act right now, but the WWE universe has to remember that he is relatively young – not even 30 years old – and has the backing of the Chairman of the Board. When superstars have Mr. McMahon on their side they tend to have prosperous careers, so expect Otis to be around for a long time.
The EST being established as the next true superstar in the WWE Women’s Division
The powers backstage in WWE are working to establish legit superstars in the Women’s Division – at the moment most of the women in WWE are relatively young and don’t necessarily have the experience (the women who do, like Becky Lynch (maternity leave) and Charlotte Flair (overexposure) are out currently. Bianca Belair is at the top of the priority list right now to be established as a main eventer in the Women’s Division. The same issue is being addressed on Monday Night Raw.
It was encouraging to see Daniel Bryan back in action for the first time in approximately four months after taking paternity leave. There is a small chance he could form a tag team with Kevin Owens, since Kevin has not had a significant storyline to be able to sink his teeth into since WrestleMania (where he got his first true ‘Mania moment by defeating Seth Rollins – and also jumping off the WrestleMania sign). Their hypothetical team could emerge as contenders to the Street Profits and the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, along with the two heel tag teams of Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode and Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura (who they competed against in this 8-man match to help bolster the presence of the tag team division).