WWE Battleground turned out to be a pretty good night for SmackDown in the end. Their top star retained the WWE Championship in the triple threat main event and Intercontinental Champion The Miz retained the title in his match against Darren Young.
Considered by most fans to have gotten the short end of the stick in the WWE Draft, Ambrose’s victory will have helped to establish SmackDown in the eyes of fans and WWE will now have to continue the momentum this Tuesday.
5: SmackDown’s Women’s division gets established
The first thing that has to be done on SmackDown Live is the establishment of SmackDown’s Women’s division. The division is very thin at the moment with just 6 women in it, which includes Eva Marie who can barely be counted as an in-ring performer. WWE have to make sure the women of SmackDown begin on a high note and NXT call-ups Alexa Bliss and Carmella have to be introduced and showcased.
At the same time, the existing feud between Becky Lynch and Natalya, the two most established women in the division, has to continue to build towards an eruption at SummerSlam while Naomi has to be brought into the fold again after an absence from injury.
4: American Alpha’s main roster debut
The crowd erupted last week when American Alpha got drafted to SmackDown. Jason Jordan and Chad Gable have bright futures ahead and their main roster should give them a chance to showcase their talents with a win so they can show fans unfamiliar with NXT what took them to the top of NXT’s tag-team division.
A match with a team like The Vaudevillains, who they’re already familiar with, would be the perfect start to their careers on the blue brand. They could showcase their amateur wrestling-inspired offence, consisting of grappling and quick chain wrestling mixed with technical high-power offence.
3: Cena and Styles set up #1 contender’s match for SummerSlam
John Cena pinned AJ Styles at Battleground to pull off the victory for his team. However, with their partners and opponents now on Raw, AJ and Cena are now free to continue their feud one-on-one in the lead up to SummerSlam where a singles match between would be one of the top matches on the card.
A promo segment between the two could be used to set up the rematch and to up the stakes, the match could be made into a #1 contender’s match for the WWE Championship.
The winner of the match between Styles and Cena would get a chance to face whoever left SummerSlam as WWE champion. This would be the final match in the Cena/Styles feud for the time being with both of them moving onto new feuds following SummerSlam.
2: Dean Ambrose’s next challenger emerges
Against all odds, Dean Ambrose retained the WWE Championship for SmackDown after winning the Shield triple threat match at WWE Battleground. He pinned the returning Roman Reigns clean to retain his coveted belt and arrives at SmackDown as the show’s top star. With SummerSlam approaching, WWE have to establish a new challenger for his championship as soon as possible so that the story has time to build.
One thing that SmackDown can’t afford to have is any sort of #1 Contender’s tournament to decide who will face Dean at SummerSlam because their roster is just too thin. With Cena and Styles busy with their own program and Randy Orton facing Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, the best option for Ambrose’s title at this moment seems to be The New Face of Fear, Bray Wyatt.
1: Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon begin SmackDown’s new era
Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon have to come out at the beginning of SmackDown and address the fans about their vision for SmackDown. SmackDown has long been perceived a B-show but WWE have addressed that a little by making SmackDown a live broadcast.
Now Shane and Bryan have to tell fans a bit about what their vision to challenge Raw is, especially with their limited roster. They also have to explain the state of the women’s division and the tag-team division.
The promo would also give the two decision makers of SmackDown a chance to interact with their top star, WWE Champion Dean Ambrose and other stars like Styles and Cena.
