7 Things WWE Subtly told us on SmackDown: 3 opponents lined up for Roman Reigns, Big mistake being made with 2-time Champion?

Welcome to this week's edition of things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown. After last week's great episode at Madison Square Garden, this was admittedly a bit of a dip.

This week's show emanated from Knoxville, Tennessee - the hometown of Bianca Belair, who was in the last segment. Unfortunately, a lot of things didn't make too much sense on SmackDown, so this week, we'll do our best to make some sense of it:

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#7 Roman Reigns has yet another opponent lined up on SmackDown

While we're unsure whether it was to capitalize on Big E's momentum for ratings, the new WWE Champion appeared on SmackDown. However, he was part of the blue brand up until this past week, which changed with his pre-announced Money in the Bank cash-in.

Not much about this episode of SmackDown made sense. Why were Big E and Finn Balor in a Championship contender's match against The Usos? Did WWE feel that since the babyfaces were winning, they needed to add the "Championship contender" part to the match?

It felt unnecessary, but the match itself was pretty good. Ultimately, a side-by-side Coupe de Grace and Big Ending saw the match finish in favour of the babyfaces.

Paul Heyman, meanwhile, continues to get stalked by Kayla Braxton. This was low-key, the most enjoyable part of SmackDown last night.

Heyman is also continuously getting interrogated because he supposedly knew that Brock Lesnar was retuning at SummerSlam - something he still denies.

Roman Reigns argued that he pays Heyman to know such information beforehand, which was a fair point in itself. Big E even teased facing Roman Reigns at Survivor Series, making him the third opponent lined up for The Tribal Chief after Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar.

With the Brock Lesnar match, it could still be a non-title bout should he lose to "Demon" Balor at Crown Jewel. Either way, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

It's not hard to see a Roman Reigns vs Big E scenario at Survivor Series. But this coming week on RAW, Roman Reigns is making his return to the red brand after well over a year. He will be teaming up with his cousins as The Bloodline takes on The New Day.

We're a bit surprised that WWE is giving this off on free TV, and it should be interesting to see who walks out with the win.

#6 Naomi is still struggling to get TV time

Naomi had another tense moment backstage on SmackDown as she continued to struggle to get TV time. The former Women's Champion confronted Sonya Deville and told her to get off her phone.

She continued to demand a match, telling Deville that she had accomplished more than her and has been around for longer.

The two-time SmackDown Women's Champion had a tense moment, and it even looked like they were teasing a romantic angle at one point.

They weren't. But it was revealed that WWE fined Naomi for "insubordination". This didn't make much sense either. WWE is making a big mistake with Naomi by not utilizing her as they should.

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#5 The bizarre setup to the non-title Women's match on SmackDown

A tag team match on SmackDown featured Liv Morgan and Toni Storm against Carmella and Zelina Vega. We're not even sure how Carmella and Vega started aligning, but it just happened.

Neither Toni Storm nor Liv Morgan got an entrance. The match ended soon after it started as Carmella had a "busted" nose that led to a countout loss. She didn't seem to care, with Zelina Vega more concerned about her nose as well.

Liv Morgan mocked the former SmackDown Women's Champion and challenged her to a match at Extreme Rules. Carmella accepted, but before that match, Morgan had to beat Zelina Vega next week on SmackDown.

It was just a bizarre way of going about it. Liv Morgan is going to beat Zelina Vega.

#4 Apollo Crews renews his feud with Shinsuke Nakamura on SmackDown

This week on SmackDown, the incredible Rick Boogs faced Robert Roode, who has drastically fallen down the card in the last couple of years. The popular Boogs picked up yet another big win on SmackDown.

While the celebrations were underway with Pat McAfee, Commander Azeez and Apollo Crews attacked both men, with the latter telling Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura that he has made a mockery out of the title.

Enough seems to be enough for Apollo Crews and he has restarted his feud with Shinsuke Nakamura, officially. Oddly enough, Rick Boogs seems to be the one who is benefiting the most from all this screen time.

The title match has been confirmed for next week. However, Apollo Crews has a lost a lot of momentum on SmackDown since July, and that isn't looking likely to recover anytime soon. Expect Nakamura to retain the title or maybe Azeez could interfere to prolong the feud till Extreme Rules.

But we expect The King Of Strong Style to emerge victorious at the end of this rivalry.

#3 The Kevin Owens-Happy Corbin feud extends on SmackDown

Recently on SmackDown, Happy Corbin surprised Kevin Owens with the return of an "old friend" - Logan Paul. The basis of their feud seems to be a $100, and although Kevin Owens refused to take it from Logan Paul, the latter threw it on him anyway.

The attack from Happy Corbin led to a match on SmackDown this week. The bout didn't happen as Kevin Owens was attacked before the match even began. This was just a lazy way of extending the rivalry on SmackDown.

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#2 Seth Rollins and Edge to have a big stipulation trilogy match?

Seth Rollins came out on SmackDown and said that a single win over Edge wasn't enough for him. He wants a trilogy bout with the legend, who wasn't present on this week's show.

With Edge and Seth Rollins now being one win apiece, they're likely going to conclude their rivalry for good at Extreme Rules 2021. That's the whole purpose of a stipulation match.

It feels like a long time since Edge had a proper stipulation bout in WWE. This could be a big one.

#1 Bianca Belair's homecoming gets ruined on SmackDown

WWE got Kane back on SmackDown for the main segment centered around Bianca Belair. Although she didn't have too much screentime, much of the episode of SmackDown was spent hyping her homecoming up.

The Mayor of Knox County, Tennesse seemed to be the perfect man to host the homecoming. Bianca Belair even received a key to the city. Becky Lynch had earlier teased the idea of interrupting the segment, and that's exactly what happened.

Not only this, but Becky Lynch ultimately got the last laugh on the night. She offered to shake Belair's hand, and while the former SmackDown Women's Champion did just that, she ended up on her back.

It was a bit of a silly look for Bianca Belair in her hometown. Since Becky Lynch is most likely to retain the SmackDown Women's title at Extreme Rules 2021, it probably would have been better for Belair to stand tall in her hometown.

Either way, the match itself should be good this time around. But the ending essentially summed up the episode of SmackDown.