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SmackDown Live this past week had several interesting moments as the build-up to Clash of Champions continued. Ali and Chad Gable were the two men who were able to progress in the King of The Ring Tournament, where the finals will take place at next month's pay-per-view.
Roman Reigns original attacker was revealed as Rowan and Daniel Bryan went on to point out how much he hates liars before slapping Rowan numerous times and heading out to the ring to Reigns to explain himself.
The Intercontinental Championship match for Clash of Champions was also teased as The Miz challenged Shinsuke Nakamura to a match before he was attacked by Sami Zayn and the current Champion.
Even though there were a number of interesting storyline advances this week on SmackDown Live, there were also several interesting mistakes.
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#5. Lacey Evans on SmackDown Live
Lacey Evans hasn't been seen on WWE TV since she and Baron Corbin were defeated by Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch in the main event of Extreme Rules a few months ago. The Sassy Southern Belle returned this week on SmackDown Live to challenge Bayley to a one-on-one match despite being a Raw based star and not being part of any current storylines.
Evans then went on to botch a number of moves throughout her match with the SmackDown Women's Champion where she was visibly frustrating Bayley throughout the match since she botched a pin attempt, a moonsault and then Bayley's belly to belly finisher.
It's safe to say that Lacey Evans probably won't be making the trip over to SmackDown Live again in the near future since she was emphatically defeated by Bayley and sent packing by the SmackDown Women's Champion.
#4. The Miz vs Shinsuke Nakamura
The Miz has become a face on WWE TV in recent months and it's easy to believe that he's been given a push recently because the company wants to be able to promote Miz and Mrs, which ended last night.
Miz is now looking to take on Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship at Clash of Champions next month after he was attacked by The Artist on an episode of Miz TV a week ago.
The Sami Zayn/Nakamura partnership has been a stroke of genius from WWE since Nakamura was being underutilized by the company and rarely defending his title whilst Zayn had just been kicked out of the King of the Ring Tournament.
It makes no sense that these two stars would decide to join together, much like Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode this week on Raw, but Nakamura and Zayn do have an impressive history when it comes to NXT, which could be the only real reason why they decided to work together and protect Nakamura's title reign.
It will be interesting to see if WWE allow The Miz to equal Chris Jericho's IC title record at Clash of Champions next month.
#3. Buddy Murphy's push ends?
Buddy Murphy and Ali collided in the opening round of the King of the Ring Tournament this past week on SmackDown Live and it was easily a match that stole the show, even though the finish didn't make a lot of sense.
Buddy Murphy has been the subject of a push over the past few weeks after becoming embroiled in the Roman Reigns storyline and last week on SmackDown Live he was able to defeat Daniel Bryan in what could be seen as the biggest win of his career.
The Roman Reigns storyline continued this week but Murphy wasn't included in it as Rowan was seen as the actual person who committed the crime but WWE's Best Kept Secret did look as though he had come to the end of his push.
Many fans believed that they would witness Murphy's Law last night enroute to Murphy taking on Elias in the next round of the King of the Ring Tournament but Ali was the man who came out on top and it is unknown where this now leaves The Australian star since he is no longer part of the Roman Reigns storyline and is now out of the tournament.
#2. It was Erick Rowan!
Erick Rowan has been someone that has been accused of attacking Roman Reigns over the past few weeks, but it wasn't until this week that there was video evidence that showed that Erick Rowan was the man who was behind the backstage attack from a month ago on SmackDown Live.
Rowan and Daniel Bryan have done everything to point out that he's innocent over the past few weeks but video evidence proved that he was the man who attacked Rowan and now it's something that has come between the former SmackDown Tag Team Champions.
After how long this storyline has gone on for many fans expected something more from it, but this was only one attack that was explained, there was nothing mentioned about the driver of the car that crashed into Roman Reigns three weeks ago on Raw. This means that there's a chance that there could have been more than one attacker and this isn't the end of the storyline.
If this is it and now Rowan and Roman will step into a feud heading into Clash of Champions then it's easy to understand why many members of the WWE Universe are disappointed with this storyline, since it could have delivered so much more.
#1. Kevin Owens doesn't pin Elias
Shane McMahon has been making Kevin Owens' life hell over the past few weeks and finally this week on SmackDown Live he had the chance to get even with him by pinning Elias for the 24/7 Championship.
Owens attacked Elias and hit him with a Stunner but then walked away and allowed Drake Maverick to pin him and take away his Championship. It is unknown as to why Owens wouldn't think to pin Elias and then have something to hold over McMahon when he returns next week, but it could be argued that Owens didn't want to be watching his back all the time and is a much higher level than anyone who had previously won the title.
The way that the segment played out between Owens and Elias, WWE made their audience believe that Owens could be looking to pin Elias so that he had the Championship, but even if he did win the title then The Best in the World would find a way to take the Championship back away next week, so it's easy to see why he didn't decide to cash in on the opportunity.
That being said, even if Owens only held the Championship for a week, it would have been an interesting week since Owens would be a hard Champion to dethrone.
