Since the WWE Draft in July, Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan have dubbed Smackdown Live as the land of opportunity. That has been the case, as of late, as we have seen several instances of surprise pushes in 2017.
This article will include four WWE Superstars from Smackdown, as well as one 205 Live wrestler. A couple of these instances are in title pictures for the upcoming WWE Backlash pay per view on May 21st.
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Not many people expect these surprise pushes to capture championships at the PPV, but the fact they are in a title picture shows that the WWE has a renewed faith in these talents.
Read on to check out the lone member of 205 Live on this list...
#5 Mustafa Ali
205 Live debuted on the WWE network last November and has had a total of 22 episodes aired. Someone who has obtained a surprising push among the Cruiserweights is Mustafa Ali.
I call this unexpected because of his first round defeat in the Cruiserweight Classic last summer against Lince Dorado. The 205 Live show has enabled Ali to showcase his talents, and he has taken full advantage of it.
The push started several weeks ago when he won the opening match of 205 Live to take part in the 6-man elimination main event for a chance to face the Cruiserweight Champion. His great showing that night has made him a regular on Monday Night Raw and 205 Live since, and another chance at the championship is not far off.
#4 Mojo Rawley
At the WWE Draft last July, Mojo Rawley was a surprise call-up to the main roster. He would be drafted to Smackdown to join his tag team partner Zack Ryder as the Hype Bros.
It was heavily rumoured that they were going to take the Smackdown Tag Team Championships from the Wyatt Family. However, Ryder suffered a knee injury that would put him on the shelf for several months.
Mojo continued as a singles competitor and it seemed like he was gathering a little steam. Then came WrestleMania. To everyone’s surprise, Mojo won the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal with a little help from his best friend Rob Gronkowski.
Winning this battle royal did wonders for Baron Corbin, and so far it is working for Mojo, as he was recently in a six-pack challenge to become the #1 contender to the WWE Championship.
Read on to see a pair of veterans that may finally have the gimmick they need...
#3 The Colons
Primo and Epico Colon made their debut in 2011 originally aligning with Hunico before having Rosa Mendes as their manager. They captured the tag team championships in 2012, but haven’t had a title since then.
From 2013 to 2017, the WWE gave Prime and Epico two terrible gimmicks, Los Matadores and Shining Stars. As bullfighters, they were nothing more than a comedy act with El Torito, while there was promise for the Shining Stars at first, they turned into a joke of a tag team again as soon as they started the timeshare push.
With the post-WrestleMania Superstar Shake-up, we saw a different side to Primo and Epico when they delivered a beating to American Alpha. They were no longer the Shining Stars and now bore the legendary Colon name.
The fact that they defeated American Alpha a couple of weeks ago shows that there is a renewed push for the Colons. That stock could skyrocket if they add Carlito to the pair.
#2 Breezango
Tyler Breeze and Fandango joined forces just over a year ago and have evolved into an entertaining duo known as Breezango. While Fandango received a considerable push with his main roster debut, Breeze never really got traction.
This duo has a lot of charisma and personality. They, eventually, took this talent and evolved it into their present ‘fashion police’ heel gimmick.
Since the WWE Draft, they have won a few matches but never received that large push into the title picture until now. They were winners in the Beat The Clock Challenge last week on Smackdown Live to become the number one contender for The Usos’ tag titles.
With Breezango taking on The Usos at Backlash later this month, it solidifies their babyface turn; which could be the spark that propels them.
#1 Jinder Mahal
Before the WWE stuck Jinder Mahal in the joke faction 3MB with Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre, he made the finals of the first ever NXT Championship tournament. Though he would lose to Seth Rollins, it appeared that big things were in store for Jinder in 2012.
Unfortunately for nearly two years, 3MB would be the doormat of the tag team division as they lost all the time and were only involved in joke angles. After a frustrating tenure with the WWE, Mahal left the WWE in 2014 and wrestled in the independent circuit.
Mahal returned to the WWE shortly after the WWE Draft last July, but was still stuck jobbing to other wrestlers until two weeks ago. Out of nowhere (pun intended), Mahal won the six-pack challenge to become the number one contender for Randy Orton’s WWE Championship.
While it didn’t make sense for Mahal to become number one contender when he won that match, he has done well with the Singh brothers to further the feud with Orton since.
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