WWE Smackdown 15th January 2015 - 5 Promising Developments

The first Thursday Night Smackdown of the year made its way on air. Daniel Bryan, like Wrestlemania, competed in two matches which began and ended the night. It was kind of a big deal for a show like Smackdown as the biggest babyface in the company returned back to action. The WWE again tried the old, tested method and put all three former members of The Shield in the main event and Smackdown, like always, ended in a tag team match.It was a good show, overall. Here are the five promising developments from this week’s Smackdown.

#1 Yes! He\'s back.

Daniel Bryan returned to the ring, a little rusty and a few pounds heavier. But then the usual Smackdown tradition came to the fore and a tag match was booked for later in the night. It had Rollins. Ambrose and Reigns involved in a six man tag match. Memories of the days of Shield gone by. But the match was enough to get everyone to hold on to their horses. Daniel Bryan was back and he was back to being the best in the main event.

And the crowd like always was all riled up.

#2 Rollins on the mic

The one thing in which Rollins ever needed to work on, was his performance on the microphone. And despite being good, he’s not been remarkable. He’s done a great job in the past and he has been a great heel for the past year.But when he came face to face with the master himself, that is Paul Heyman, Rollins seemed remarkable on the mic.

Lesnar wasn’t present and Rollins’ played the part of threatening Heyman non-stop and it didn’t look like the 28year old was nervous of facing two behemoths like Lesnar and Cena. He looks mighty confident heading into Royal Rumble. That is something that we don’t see a heel do often. He is the dark horse in this match and might as well be there for a pinfall, but he wouldn’t go down without a fight.

#3 Ambrose is still there

Ambrose doesn’t have a clear opponent yet. And that is for the best, given his heavy feud with Wyatt. I say heavy because it was full of gimmick matches sure to have injured both of them in some way. Ambrose is still carrying the knee injury. But Ambrose is not Sheamus, for whom you think Creative has nothing for. Ambrose actually has decent to great in-ring chemistry with mostly everyone he’s had a singles match with-be it barret or Rusev or his great feud with Rollins.

All this slow build towards the Rumble surely points towards a great showing at the Rumble.

#4 Paul Heyman\'s Involvement

So what if Lesnar wasn’t present!!

Heyman was there and that’s all one needs as a reason to tune in. That’s why Lesnar’s special event status works. Paul Heyman is there full time to put his client over as a beast and also put his opponents over by going one on one on the microphone with them. His acting is way above par. The way he subdued Rollins’ rising threats and the way he moved from being scared to being sheer powerful in his demeanour was must-see.

Heyman makes sense out of any nonsensical situation.

But this storyline with him and Rollins is not nonsensical. It is the one thing that makes sense to tune into watch the championship match at Rumble- storyline wise.

#5 Nikki Bella\'s wrestling

Natalya beat Nikki Bella clean. It seems she’s the newest contender for the title.What this should do is lead towards a longer match between these two. Bella has obviously improved a lot and has the potential to have a great match. She may be WWE’s answer to the next trish Stratus, because she’s making a successful transition from being just a pretty face to a good wrestler.

But despite all of that, WWE still isn’t giving a lot of time to the women competitors in the ring.