On the SmackDown side of things, I didn’t think that this episode was the greatest episode. No storylines really took significant steps forward, but some wrestling is a whole lot better than no wrestling (that’s for sure). The most positive thing I can take away from last night is how much I am buying Daniel Bryan as a heel. He opened the show by cutting a great promo by entering the arena through the crowd and subsequently being attacked by AJ Styles. And of course, it was great to see Becky Lynch get her rematch for the SmackDown Women’s title which she never lost.
It was also a great match between the team of Rey Mysterio and Mustafa Ali versus the team of Andrade “Cien” Almas and Samoa Joe. I am liking this kid Mustafa Ali. He has all the tools physically to be a future champion (the only thing I see potentially holding him back is the fact that he is a little bit undersized than WWE typically likes out of a top guy. But Finn Balor had the same issue when he first got promoted to the main roster and they still updated to make him the first universal champion. We will see if WWE thinks that highly of Ali.
I also feel that WWE needs to debut the incoming stars from NXT because I feel they have been promoting them for a more than adequate amount of time. It’s also interesting to see how WWE is building up R-Truth and he is starting to have prominence again. He is set to enter the Royal Rumble match at number 30 after winning the mixed match challenge and he was put in a match with Daniel Bryan last night. Last thing, I promise. I know my readers have stuff to do: it’s great to see Mandy Rose involved in a love triangle story. WWE would be smart to take advantage of her beauty, and that’s exactly what they’re doing. That’s all I have for my review of SmackDown this week.