5 Opportunities WWE missed on this week's SmackDown - Bigger push for rising star, Top draw for Money in the Bank (April 24th, 2020) 

Expectations from this week's SmackDown were quite high following a great show last week where WWE showed that it could work wonders even with limited Superstars at hand. Unfortunately, this iteration of the Blue brand flattered to deceive.

The show began with a great nine-man staredown to elevate the SmackDown tag team division and followed it up with great Money in the Bank qualifiers. However, the second half of the show was simply too bland for my liking. The highlight of this week's SmackDown, i.e., Triple H's 25th anniversary, resulted in a rather subpar segment leaving much to be desired.

Thus, there could've been a myriad of ways in which WWE could've improved this week's show. So without further ado, let's look at some of the opportunities that the Creative missed out on this week.

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#5 Giving Sonya Deville the spotlight to shine again

Sonya Deville certainly shone the brightest last week

While we were already expecting Sonya Deville to eventually turn on Mandy Rose, nobody would have thought that she would be so good on the mic. Deville cut a promo last week that drew a lot of eyeballs and praise from fans worldwide. So WWE should have made an attempt to get her involved this week as well.

If you've seen her matches, Deville is a brilliant fighter and if she can back that up with scathing words, that's the best possible combination to thrust her into the title picture which she very much deserves to be a part of.

With the announcement that Mandy Rose would be taking on Carmella for a shot at the Money in the Bank briefcase, it would have made even more sense for Deville to come out and blame her former best friend for stealing another opportunity.

That would even build the hype for next week's show. With The Golden Goddess set to be in action, there would be a much higher expectation of Deville possibly getting involved to cost Mandy her opportunity.

#4 Letting Sasha Banks compete in the MITB Ladder Match

Sasha Banks continues to suffer

Yes, given how Bayley possibly cost Sasha Banks her Money in the Bank shot, the situation between the two Superstars continues to worsen. I know that WWE is still very much on the path to a Sasha Banks vs. Bayley feud this way. However, letting Banks compete for the MITB briefcase would come with multiple advantages.

Firstly, The Legit Boss would've been a huge draw. I mean no disrespect to the other women who have qualified for the ladder match who are all great performers in the ring. Having said that, with the exception of possibly Asuka, no other woman in the match is as big of a draw as Banks.

Secondly, it would allow Banks to turn face organically which is very important considering the fact that both Bayley and she are still very much heels. Plus, it more or less signals that the briefcase is likely to be won by a RAW Superstar because while Becky Lynch still has a dearth of challengers, Bayley seems primed to be sparring with Banks if and when she's done with Tamina. Again, predictability is something WWE needs to avoid.

#3 Making The Miz look better

The Miz surely deserves better

Miz & Morrison had a lot of momentum heading into WrestleMania 36 as the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. And while John Morrison was able to retain the tag titles for his team on 'Mania, The Miz wasn't able to do the same a couple of weeks following the Show of Shows. The duo also took a surprising loss to Lucha House Party this week but once again it was The A-Lister who took the pin.

With the involvement of The Forgotten Suns also, it seems like Miz & Morrison's tag team days could come to an end soon. While it would make sense to have Morrison back in a singles run, because that was one of the major reasons for his return, I don't think having The Miz bear the entire brunt of the situation is a good idea.

WWE seems to be heading towards a feud between the two where it's expected that Morrison would be put over. And if that indeed is the case, then having The Miz keep taking pins all the time doesn't really leave him with much in the first place to elevate Morrison when the eventual feud happens.

#2 Making women tag team matches less predictable

They deserve better competition

This has more to do with events of both the last week and this week. We finally got new challengers for Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross in the form of Carmella & Dana Brooke. It was a fresh feud and WWE could've gone whichever way they wanted with this.

However, Dana Brooke had a Money in the Bank qualifier match which she won. That was the first giveaway. This week, before the eventual match for the Women Tag Team Championships, it was revealed that Carmella too would be taking part in a MITB qualifier next week. That was the second and final giveaway which more or less made it clear that Alexa & Nikki were going to retain their titles.

If you have two Superstars who are eventually going to be involved in singles competition in the near future, it obviously signals that the tag titles are unlikely to be put on them which was the case for the challengers this week.

Yes, the match that the four women put up was a decent one. But not making the result of the said match so apparent would've definitely helped in keeping the intrigue going which eventually wasn't the case. The women's tag division isn't really soaring high right now and predictable match results are the last thing we need.

#1 Payoff for Triple H's 25th Anniversary Celebrations

Not the greatest 'celebration'

WWE built a lot of hype for this week's edition of SmackDown, for more than a fortnight at the very least. So, I, much like the rest of the fans, was expecting something huge to come out of the segment.

It could've been a shocking return, a new challenge for Triple H, or a feel-good promo at the very least. Interestingly, given how much Michael Cole had focused on the fact that The Game has never won a Money in the Bank briefcase, many expected that as a possible swerve. However, nothing of that sort happened.

Eventually, we just got the likes of Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon roasting The Cerebral Assassin while the likes of Stephanie McMahon, Ric Flair, and Road Dogg facetimed him to send their congratulations.

While seeing Vince and HBK indulge in some humor was refreshing to see, it shouldn't have been the only takeaway from the segment. WWE certainly could've built a storyline through the celebrations which they didn't.