5 Things WWE Subtly told us on SmackDown: Unexpected new challenger for Roman Reigns, Former US Champion finally turning heel for the first time?

Welcome to this week's edition of things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown. It was an interesting episode, although it wasn't particularly packed and stacked from top to bottom.

A special shoutout goes to Sami Zayn, who appeared in numerous segments throughout the show and even interacted with the newcomers such as Aliyah and Hit Row.

Zayn's "locker room leader" shtick has been hilarious to watch, and it's good to see him continuing as an integral part of the Blue brand. Looking at the other aspects of the show, here are some things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown this week:

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#5. What did the "bend the knee" storyline on SmackDown have to do with Survivor Series?

It was another week of SmackDown, and so far, WWE has seemingly refused to begin the build towards Survivor Series 2021. Given that it's the fourth-most important pay-per-view of the year (supposedly), there should be more emphasis on building the champion vs. champion matches as well as the traditional elimination bouts.

This week, the main event was King Woods vs. Jimmy Uso. The stipulation was that if Woods won, Jimmy Uso would have to bend the knee to him. If Jimmy won, King Woods would have to acknowledge Roman Reigns.

This led to a fun main event. Throughout the show, Reigns was tense and constantly threatening The Usos, asking how many times he had to clean up their mess. Next week could be even tenser, as King Woods walked out with the victory.

While Jimmy Uso was about to bend the knee, Roman Reigns came out and attacked the King. The Bloodline launched an assault on Woods as well as Sir Kofi, with Roman Reigns ending the show by telling King Woods that he would show him what a "real" king looks like.

Given the emphasis on Woods (including a new theme song), it's clear that he is taking an even bigger step up - as a potential Universal title challenger to Roman Reigns. While he isn't going to win, he has emerged as an unexpected opponent.

WWE is doing the best they can to establish King Woods as a singles star. However, there is the possibility that all this is being done to set up the Survivor Series clash between Roman Reigns and WWE Champion Big E.

#4. Is Ricochet getting a character change on SmackDown?

Drew McIntyre had his "SmackDown Warriors" open challenge, and it was answered by a man with who he's crossed paths numerous times. Ricochet challenged McIntyre and slapped him in the face before their match.

Unsurprisingly, their impromptu bout was a great one. It wasn't too long, but it was highly physical and did what it needed to do. While Drew McIntyre was always going to pick up the win, it was about giving Ricochet a good showing.

The latter seemingly teased a heel turn, while Mustafa Ali watched carefully with interest backstage. McIntyre won with an unusual Claymore Kick out of nowhere.

He paid his respects to Ricochet afterward and walked away, but the night wasn't over for the former US Champion. Backstage, Ali was talking about how much better they would be together, and Ricochet refused. He said that he didn't trust him after what he did to Mansoor and that Mustafa Ali was a "jerk" who made excuses all the time.

We're either getting a slow-burn Ricochet heel turn on SmackDown or a regular feud between him and Ali.

#3. Los Lotharios are the hottest new team on SmackDown

Los Lotharios are a force to be reckoned with on SmackDown. The team of Angel Garza and his cousin Humberto Carrillo could be one of the key tag teams in the division.

In the last year, Carrillo was utilized on RAW more than Garza was, and they were put together in a tag team by WWE before being drafted to SmackDown. This week, they took on an odd-pairing tag team of Cesaro and Mansoor.

We're not even sure what the logic of teaming the two up was, but the objective seemed to be to get Los Lotharios over as a legitimate tag team - something they did. Unfortunately, it was The Swiss Superman who took the pin, indicating that his 2021 push has been completely killed off.

It's unfortunate, but at least Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo are getting more screen time. We anticipate that WWE will keep building them up on the Friday night show to eventually be title challengers and potential SmackDown Tag Team Champions.

#2. The Viking Raiders to start with a happy feud on SmackDown

Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss hosted another episode of Happy Talk, with the special guests being the newest arrivals to SmackDown - The Viking Raiders. The former RAW Tag Team Champions hadn't been on the Blue brand before this, but they got a good start.

Moss made a hilarious joke that triggered the Raiders, and it led to a tag team match between the two teams. The Viking Raiders, being far more experienced as a unit, dominated the happy duo and looked to pick up the win, but Corbin and Moss walked away, losing by count-out.

WWE is oddly going out of their way to protect Corbin, but it seems as though they're going to have a non-title feud with The Viking Raiders. That's a good thing because it's highly likely that the company will use Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss to put over the Raiders as legitimate tag team title contenders.

The feud should be an entertaining one, but that aspect will be carried by Corbin and Moss on SmackDown.

#1. Sonya Deville's vendetta against Naomi takes effect on SmackDown again

This week on SmackDown, we saw a rematch between Naomi and Shayna Baszler. While it looked like Baszler would be getting a push following her attack on former partner Nia Jax on RAW, that isn't necessarily the case.

She simply wrote Jax off TV before the latter got released recently. Things aren't too different for The Queen of Spades on SmackDown. Baszler seems to be playing the role of Deville's "hired gun", and lost to Naomi via a roll-up on SmackDown.

Sonya Deville came out and claimed that Naomi clutched onto the ropes, meaning that the match had to restart. Baszler went on to pick up the win, with Deville absorbing all the heat and trying to suck away Naomi's momentum.

We wonder when things will start looking up for her on the Blue brand. There needs to be an episode at some point where she gets even a little bit of comeuppance.

Hopefully, the payoff to the storyline where Naomi gets one over is coming soon. It will get tiring if the story keeps dragging out the same way on SmackDown.