Best and Worst of SmackDown: Big mistake from 2020 to be avoided, 2 popular babyfaces lose their push?

It was an interesting episode of SmackDown this week. There were a mix of ups and downs, and some worsts in the bests, and vice versa. However, it served the purpose of building towards Elimination Chamber 2022 in Saudi Arabia, and the road to WrestleMania keeps getting more interesting.

Perhaps the most intriguing happenings of the show this week took place in the beginning and right at the end. Here are the bests and worst of SmackDown:

---

#3. Best: Goldberg on SmackDown

We're not the biggest advocates for Goldberg getting a world title shot, but in this context, it seems to be a good idea. He revealed earlier that he only has one match left on his WWE contract, which makes it appropriate for the last one to be against Roman Reigns.

It also seems to confirm that unless a sudden contract is offered, Goldberg will not be appearing at WrestleMania 38. For the second year in a row, he is being utilized on the road to WrestleMania, but not at The Grandest Stage of Them All itself.

The Paul Heyman promo on SmackDown was a lot longer than it needed to be, and it seemed to hint at the possibility of a 'Title vs. Title' winner take all match at WrestleMania 38 between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. This part, we can't count under "best".

It essentially means that Lesnar could regain the WWE title at Elimination Chamber, making his Royal Rumble victory and the title loss to Lashley completely pointless.

That aside, the Goldberg appearance was a pleasant surprise. It seems to be a throwback to 2020, where Roman Reigns was originally going to face him and win the Universal title from him at WrestleMania 36.

As you know, that didn't happen as The Tribal Chief pulled out of the event - a decision that would change the course of WWE as he returned and turned heel at last.

Braun Strowman got his spot instead, but the plan was always for Reigns to return and dominate. This time around, we don't expect the company to make the same mistake as they did in Super ShowDown 2020.

The mistake in question is when Goldberg defeated the popular 'Fiend' character to capture the Universal title. In this case, he is simply another hurdle for Roman Reigns to jump over, and one that The Tribal Chief is guaranteed to walk out of with his title intact.

#3. Worst: No big plans for Big E or Drew McIntyre on SmackDown

Drew McIntyre made his triumphant return to SmackDown after suffering an injury at WWE Day 1 at the hands of Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss. This was, of course, an angle to write off McIntyre as he recovered from legitimate neck issues, and he returned far sooner than expected after an intensive rehab.

He is set to face Moss in a Day 1 rematch at Elimination Chamber, and he was made to look good this week as he took out Corbin's stooge with a Claymore Kick. A shoutout to Madcap Moss for finally telling a legitimately funny joke this week.

But there seems to be zero indication whatsoever of McIntyre getting any big push at the moment. While he is being protected carefully and will be used sparsely ahead of WrestleMania to prevent another injury, he may not be Roman Reigns' challenger anytime soon.

Along with him, Big E seems to have had a legitimate downfall. RAW's No.1 draft pick is now a star on the blue brand and has seemingly been relegated to a tag team position once again. It's a disappointment after the promising 2021 that he had.

#2. Best: The New Day vs. Los Lotharios match

SmackDown this week featured one of the best tag team matches you will see in a while. When we see reports of Vince McMahon having no interest in the tag team division, it often surprises us. WWE doesn't have a shortage of tag teams and there certainly isn't a shortage of talent.

This week was the perfect example of that as Angel and Humberto of Los Lotharios took The New Day to the limit. It was an incredibly fun bout to watch, although we feel that the wrong team won in this case.

However, it was a great effort from Los Lotharios and was undoubtedly one of the highlights this week.

---

#2. Worst: Ricochet and Cesaro's continuous downfall on SmackDown

Ricochet defeated Ridge Holland in a singles match, but it soon turned into a tag team match where he teamed up with Cesaro to take on Sheamus and Holland. It was the duo from the UK who won the match, and while it wasn't a bad result, it continues to highlight the continuous downfall of two promising babyfaces.

Cesaro wasn't even in the Royal Rumble, which was a disappointment in itself. But the handling of The Swiss Cyborg since the summer of 2021 has been even more disappointing.

#1. Best: The surprisingly entertaining Naomi story on SmackDown

We'll cover the two major women's segments on SmackDown under one point here. The first is Naomi's story with Sonya Deville. She confronted her rival backstage, being wise enough to not touch her as she was wearing a suit, meaning that she was on official duty.

Deville fumbled in nervousness and handed Naomi a SmackDown Women's title shot against Charlotte Flair. While the Naomi-Sonya Deville storyline had gotten tiring at one point due to its repetitive nature, we must give WWE credit for keeping the storyline alive.

We can only hope that they commit to it until WrestleMania, with Naomi getting the ultimate payoff victory.

Unfortunately for her, she won't be dethroning Flair next week on SmackDown. Ronda Rousey declared that she will face The Queen at WrestleMania 38 in a segment that can only be labeled as average.

However, the Naomi story has been interesting and given how often she is featured on TV, she can no longer be classified in the "underutilized" category.

How will Sonya Deville cheat her in her title shot next week? We will find out.

#1. Worst: The Aliyah-Natalya story on SmackDown

While WWE is doing well with one women's storyline on SmackDown, they aren't doing too well with the other. While some might give them credit for now having three active women's storylines on the blue brand, the company shouldn't be praised for doing what they should have been doing all along.

Either way, the Aliyah vs. Natalya rivalry doesn't seem to be doing either woman a favor. The former remains undefeated on the WWE main roster, but the "world record" storyline isn't doing many favors for her.

The only time Aliyah got a good rub was when she earned the quickest victory in WWE history. Apart from that, the storyline has been a bit off. This week, she won by count-out, prompting Natalya to go to the authority figures, Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville.

They granted a rematch next week and it will only be pinfall or submission. When The Queen of Harts went to tell Aliyah of their match, she had a brief confrontation with Xia Li, who she seemed slightly intimidated by.

While the story of the rookie having the veteran's number is a decent one, it hasn't been executed that well on SmackDown.