5 things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown: Big mistake made with Miz vs Wyatt feud, Off-screen "romance" turned into storyline (December 6th, 2019)

So that was an interesting episode of SmackDown. It started off pretty great and the ending...not so much. But we'll get to that in a bit. Either way, it was good in the sense that there was quite a bit of storyline and character development, with a new and unexpected feud emerging out of nowhere.

There was only one women's segment on the night (not counting the squash match) and one women's match but it was, of course, the most important one of the night. Alexa Bliss vs Mandy Rose was quite an interesting match and it was fun to see Alexa Bliss play the babyface to Mandy Rose's heel character.

Though this was by no means the greatest episode of SmackDown, it was not a slouch of an episode either. Here are a few major things that WWE subtly told us on Friday Night SmackDown - the penultimate episode to TLC.

---

#5. An old feud for The New Day

The Revival

The Revival won a fantastic Fatal-4-Way elimination match to earn the right to face The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at WWE TLC. They had to go through three other opponents in The Lucha House Party, Heavy Machinery (who were so over) and Mustafa Ali & Shorty G.

It was a good, fast-paced match-up that had some fun spots such as Otis and the caterpillar, but at the end of the day, the right team won and it was The Revival. We're going to be seeing an old feud for The New Day, but if they have a good stipulation added to it, we could end up seeing a match that legitimately steals the show.

The two teams have great chemistry together and you would think that they would be the perfect candidates to open the show.

#4. Roman Reigns vs Baron Corbin at TLC is going to have an interesting result

The Big Dog!

The main event of SmackDown saw Roman Reigns take on Dolph Ziggler in a fairly generic match. It was a decent one with Reigns rightfully getting the win over Ziggler even after a distraction from Baron Corbin.

The problem here isn't Roman Reigns, of course, but the creative aspect of the storyline. It's quite poor and not that well thought out, which is a shame because Reigns and Corbin have been two stars this year who have been shining bright. There's little to no hype for their match at TLC yet it's them who get the actual TLC stipulation match.

It's certainly a bizarre decision but a somewhat understandable one. However, the ending was just outright crazy. Roman Reigns was handcuffed to the ring post and then smeared with dog food so he can "eat like a Big Dog". That's just awful and it also means that Roman Reigns is getting the big win at TLC.

While that's no surprise in itself, we won't be surprised to see Reigns squash the former United States Champion at the PPV.

#3. Drake Maverick and Elias' bizarre low-card feud

Dana Brooke and Elias

So Elias is back and he's a babyface, right? But as we know, a babyface in WWE is often just a ninth-grade bully. This is exactly the case in this rather bizarre storyline between Dana Brooke, Drake Maverick, and Elias.

It all started with Drake Maverick wanting to hit on Dana Brooke despite being a married man but as you probably know by now, she's a lot more interested in Batista, something that they even acknowledged on WWE television, turning it into a part of the storyline!

Elias trashed Drake Maverick with a song about how Batista is a millionaire and is taller than him. After that, they had another confrontation in the ring where Elias essentially bullied Maverick and Dana Brooke assisted him. The story is now probably going to turn into Elias' chase for Renee Michelle (Maverick's wife) and Brooke seems to encourage him hitting on a married woman...after belittling Maverick for hitting on her by being a married man?

None of this makes much sense, but we suppose that would be expecting too much.

#2. Lacey Evans has to go through Sasha Banks before her title shot

Lacey Evans had another major confrontation

Babyface Lacey Evans is right back in the title picture after nearly 5 months out of it. This time, it's for the other brand's championship and she's currently being presented as the top female face of SmackDown.

It's interesting because, before the summer of 2019, Sasha Banks or Bayley would have been the locks to be the top female faces but now that they're both heels, they need a dance partner and Lacey Evans seems to be it.

The story so far has been less about Lacey Evans vs Bayley and more about her confrontation with Sasha Banks. However, what's clear is that Sasha Banks is being treated as a stepping stone in this case and will likely be putting over Lacey Evans in the next week to set up a SmackDown Women's Championship match at TLC between Evans and Bayley.

The clash simply seems inevitable and we couldn't be more excited about it.

#1. A possible mistake made in the new feud

Notice anything different?

So here's the deal. As predicted by The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Daniel Bryan has been replaced by The Miz for TLC and it will now be The A-Lister taking on Bray Wyatt. Look at the graphic and notice two major things. One, the Universal Championship is not on the line, and two - it's going to be The Miz vs Bray Wyatt and not against The Fiend.

That's a big change to make, but the mistake, in this case, is not putting the Universal title on the line. We're not against the idea of The Miz facing Bray Wyatt and not The Fiend because it keeps the novelty and specialty of seeing The Fiend intact and more importantly - no red lights!

That itself is a win in our books but perhaps WWE should have considered putting the Universal Championship on the line for this rivalry. The Miz deserves to compete for a World title again and even if he's going to lose (which we expect him to), it'll be good for him to end the year having competed for a World Championship again. He's been away from that picture for a while but he's the perfect replacement for Daniel Bryan in this scenario.