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Welcome to things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown after Hell in a Cell 2020! It was an intense episode from start to finish and there's a lot to catch up on. Let's jump right into it!
#5 Is WWE making a big error in the Murphy-Aalyah storyline on SmackDown?
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The entire Rey Mysterio-Seth Rollins-Dominik Mysterio-Murphy-Aalyah Mysterio storyline essentially transferred from RAW to SmackDown. While we assumed that they would drop the story on SmackDown, we were wrong.
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The storyline continued and it started getting more intense by the week. There has been a lot of discomfort from fans over the 13-year age gap between Murphy and Aalyah Mysterio, but ultimately, it's just a storyline.
What we're not fans of, however, is the fact that Dominik has become nothing but a side character on SmackDown and even before his move to SmackDown. WWE chose to emphasize on Murphy and Aalyah the most.
Seth Rollins has had a relatively consistent role, but of late since his move to SmackDown, he has been an instigator. Things got interesting this week on SmackDown and the storyline reached a boiling point.
Seth Rollins told Murphy that he would still be willing to accept him and Aalyah. It was only a matter of time before Dominik came out and though Murphy had no intention of hurting him, the 23-year-old recently-signed WWE Superstar attacked him first, causing the Australian to shove back.
It was then that Rey Mysterio came out and while the father-son duo was close to finishing him off, Aalyah stopped and dropped the big bombshell - that she loves Murphy.
A dejected Rey and Dominik Mysterio would walk away while Aalyah and Murphy kissed - with Seth Rollins watching on delightfully. We're admittedly interested in how this story plays out and who benefits from it, but all we hope is that once it's done, Dominik gets the spotlight again. The storyline peaked this past summer when the young Dominik Mysterio made his debut, but it has watered down quite a bit.
Either way, we expect him to get the spotlight later on. WWE is simply capitalizing on a storyline that has caused a lot of interest. While we feel WWE has made a mistake in the handling of the entire situation, we're also aware of the interest it has generated.
#4 Will Sasha Banks' title curse continue on SmackDown?
Sasha Banks has had some terrible luck when it comes to singles Championships. While she may hold multiple Women's title accolades, the reality is that she hasn't successfully defended any of those titles once.
Now in her first SmackDown Women's Championship reign, The Boss thought that Bayley was behind her as she looked ahead to face Asuka at Survivor Series 2020. However, anyone who has reigned for over a year straight and lost the title won't just fade away into the background.
It's rare that we get to see title reigns that long, to begin with, but with Sasha Banks, it's normally the opposite. Bayley challenged her to a rematch for the SmackDown Women's title next week and the match has been made official.
If Sasha Banks loses the title, her reign as SmackDown Women's Champion will have ended in 13 days. Given that it's Sasha Banks, a title change is always a possibility. But given the story that they're going with, Bayley winning the title back would be a bit unexpected.
#3 The Freak's backstage interview on SmackDown
Lars Sullivan hasn't been getting the best publicity since his return to SmackDown this past month. While it has more to do with his online activity again, that hasn't affected his push or TV time whatsoever.
We noticed that in the last few weeks, WWE has made it a point to drill in his nickname "The Freak" to a level that it can't be ignored. It appears as though they want that name to stick.
There have also been rumors that WWE will be removing Lars Sullivan's first name, similar to what they did to Matt Riddle. Lars Sullivan had a backstage interview on SmackDown and it wasn't very great.
The promo wasn't great nor was his background story very appealing. With that said, we understand that there isn't anything that's going to stop him from getting pushed unless there is more controversial online activity discovered.
We hope that he is a part of a good storyline that helps him grow. He shouldn't be a character taking backstage interviews.
#2 The build to Survivor Series on SmackDown is off to a slow start
RAW made sure to secure and announce their teams early on - just one night after Hell in a Cell 2020. We were a bit surprised since there was almost a full month to build to the PPV. On SmackDown this week, the story was a bit different. We only had three qualifying matches and one was for the women.
Billie Kay and Natalya were making a case to authority figure Adam Pearce over who should be in the Survivor Series team and it was SmackDown's star acquisition, Bianca Belair, who made her presence known.
Once Bianca Belair interjected, it was clear who the first person on the SmackDown Women's team would be. Bianca Belair handily defeated both Billie Kay and Natalya to qualify, while Kevin Owens defeated Dolph Ziggler to become the first to qualify for the men's team.
Jey Uso also qualified in the main event, but given what happened, we need an entirely separate point for that.
#1 The ending of SmackDown and the new alliance
The reason why SmackDown has been the best wrestling show in the world today is because of storylines like this. SmackDown opened with Roman Reigns confronting Jey Uso, telling him he loved him but also instigating him and showing his cold-blooded side.
This is the Roman Reigns we've wanted to see for a long time and we're finally getting it. Despite Jey Uso declaring that he hated his cousin, the ending of Smackdown suggested otherwise.
Jey Uso defeated Daniel Bryan clean in the main event to qualify for the Survivor Series. While that was well and good, what happened post-match was the most noteworthy part of the show.
Roman Reigns made his way to ringside mid-match alongside Paul Heyman and after Jey Uso won, he told Roman Reigns that he's "with him". Reigns then ordered an assault on Daniel Bryan and that's exactly what Jey Uso did - turning heel in the process.
The alliance has finally happened and SmackDown is going to get a whole lot more interesting. SmackDown ended with Roman Reigns and Jey Uso side-by-side as Daniel Bryan was brutalized. What a way to end the show!
