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This week's episode of SmackDown Live was a noteworthy show and just like it's sister show Monday Night Raw, we witnessed some impressive matches and feuds heading into Clash of Champions. The show kicked off with a great segment and several interesting things took place at the show. We saw a new alliance, two championship matches were made and a former WWE Champion was pinned by a former Cruiserweight Champion.
Round 1 of the King of the King tournament proceeded on the blue brand and the matches were solid. The show closed off with a cliffhanger as we finally found out who was behind The Big Dog's recent attacks, which, unfortunately, prevented the show from ending without a hitch.
Plenty of things went down on the blue brand this week and right here, right now, we will look at the five points worth noting for last night's Smackdown Live.
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#5 Buddy Murphy is a star in the making
Last week on SmackDown Live, "WWE's Best Kept Secret" Buddy Murphy made his name known to the world when he delivered a star-making performance during his match with The Big Dog Roman Reigns.
Even though Reigns came out on top, Murphy looked like a star throughout the entire match and had everyone buzzing after the match. The former Cruiserweight Champion surely impressed the backstage officials and on SmackDown last night, he pinned the former WWE Champion Daniel Bryan.
Murphy is also part of the King of the Ring tournament and winning it will make him a big star and he could possibly go on to receive a mid-card title shot. Murphy is a phenomenal in-ring competitor and with his involvement in the Roman Reigns/Daniel Bryan/Rowan storyline, it's only left to see what WWE has in store for the former 205 Live Superstar.
#4 Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn's pairing is for the best
Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn are no strangers to each other. The two put on what many would call the best match in NXT history, which was also The Artist's first match in WWE. After Nakamura moved to the main roster, he went on to win the 2018 Royal Rumble match and challenged AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 34.
He captured the United States Championship later on, but his reign was disappointing as he was hardly seen on TV, and even now, he's currently the Intercontinental Champion but he's still rarely seen.
Sami Zayn, on the other hand, has also been on the receiving end of bad booking and has suffered plenty of losses and he doesn't have much going on for him right now. Zayn is known for his enthralling promos so being Nakamura's mouthpiece benefits both wrestlers since Nakamura is weak on the mic due to his inability to speak English fluently.
Both wrestlers can have something to do and that means we'll get to see Shinsuke and the IC Title on TV more often. Who knows? Perhaps Zayn could turn on Nakamura and challenge him for the IC Title down the line.
#3 WWE is failing the women's division by consistently putting Charlotte Flair in the title picture
The self-proclaimed "Queen of WWE" Charlotte Flair defeated WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus at SummerSlam and she is on her way to becoming a ten-time Women's Champion as she is set to face Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship next month at Clash of Champions.
Charlotte is the second-biggest name in the women's division right now and she is one of the biggest Superstars in WWE at the moment so missing Clash of Champions would be a big mistake on WWE's part, but she could have any other match besides challenging for the title.
Flair has often been referred to as the female Roman Reigns and with WWE solely involving her in every major match and leaving out other female Superstars is not good at all. There are other Superstars on the women's roster who would've benefited from the opportunity. Superstars like Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Sonya Deville, etc. are not being used to their full potential or aren't been used at all.
#2 Kofi Kingston is prepared for Randy Orton
On this week's episode of Raw, Randy Orton and The Revival dismantled the entire New Day members and left Xavier Woods in ruins. The Viper kicked off SmackDown last night and repeatedly called Kofi Kingston 'stupid' before being hit with a Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere by the WWE Champion.
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder came to Orton's rescue but Kingston took care of them with a steel chair. Orton and Kingston are set to clash at Clash of Champions for the WWE Championship. The Revival also challenged The New Day members Big E and Xavier for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships and if they accept the challenge, the match will take place at Clash of Champions.
Even though Kingston and Orton's match at SummerSlam didn't wow the WWE Universe, things are different this time with the addition of The Revival. Kofi Kingston is ready for his old nemesis Randy Orton and he proved that on SmackDown.
#1 The closing segment was a letdown
WWE booked a storyline where a mystery person was trying to hurt Roman Reigns. Buddy Murphy revealed that the person was none other than Rowan. Daniel Bryan and Rowan denied it and they vowed to reveal who the real perpetrator was on SmackDown this week. Fans have been eagerly waiting to see who it would be and instead, it turned out to be a random person - a Rowan lookalike.
This person is not even a WWE Superstar so it makes no complete sense as to why he would go to extreme lengths to try to take out Roman Reigns. But who knows? This is WWE and perhaps the creative team has big plans and they know what they're actually doing. The reason why WWE chose to make the culprit a Rowan lookalike is so that Bryan could argue that Buddy Murphy mistook him for his partner and later on it would be revealed that it was Rowan all along.
Also Read: WWE RAW (August 19, 2019): 5 Points to note
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