5 Things WWE Subtly told us on SmackDown: Paul Heyman makes a huge mistake without Roman Reigns, 7-Time Champion quietly turns face?

#2 Drew McIntyre gets his SmackDown start, while Mustafa Ali pulls a bizarre excuse out of his bag

Drew McIntyre made his in-ring return to SmackDown, starting things with an Open Challenge. It's good for WWE to take things slow with McIntyre on the blue brand, especially since he's only coming off his WWE Title loss to Big E at Crown Jewel.

Rather than quickly pushing him to be just another Roman Reigns Universal title contender who will fall, it's smarter to take the long-term approach, especially since a rivalry between the two men for the Universal Championship feels inevitable.

McIntyre got his start on SmackDown, which might indicate how WWE plans to handle him for the first month or two - which seems to be the best route to go.

The Scotsman's Open Challenge was answered by Mustafa Ali. The result was obvious, with Ali once again losing.

The former RETRIBUTION leader has been on a bad skid before he came to SmackDown, and it continued on the blue brand tonight.

He proclaimed post-match that people don't like him because his name is Mustafa Ali, which isn't exactly true. But it's a shame that WWE had to resort to that direction for his character - something he very likely wouldn't want on a personal level.