TLC is in the books and SmackDown will now be looking to shift their focus to the Royal Rumble. The buildup towards the Rumble will start from the fallout of TLC and the first step comes this Tuesday night with the latest edition of SmackDown live.
With the two major title changes and the heel turn that happened in the main event, there are a lot of possible segments that WWE could pull off for the show.
The heel turn of James Ellsworth would indeed be one of the biggest talking points of the show and he is set to get his shot at the gold as well. That and many other segments could be rolled out by WWE on Tuesday night and we are going to take a look at them in this list.
#6 Is the Deadman set to return?
The Undertaker was spotted backstage at Raw on Monday night, and now Cageside Seats have reported that we might just see The Phenom make an appearance at the Blue brand’s show in Houston, Texas as well. The capacity of this return is unknown as of now but it will mark the first time the Deadman makes an appearance since SmackDown 900.
Furthermore, rumours suggest that he might face AJ Styles at Royal Rumble. Take a look at a picture taken, while the Undertaker was backstage on Monday night in Austin, Texas:
#5 Friction between Miz and Bryan
The Miz retained his Intercontinental championship last night at TLC when he defeated Dolph Ziggler. But instead of the match, what made people talk was the way that things went down between Miz and Daniel Bryan. The storyline seems to be back on top and we could expect some developments this week on SmackDown.
The Ziggler chapter of Miz’s title reign seems to be over for the time being but since Bryan will not be stepping into the ring, Miz would need a new challenger with Bryan being restricted as a subplot. Either way, Miz once again proved that he is a valuable player for SmackDown and WWE needs to capitalise on this.
#4 The attacker of Nikki Bella
The secret attacker of Nikki Bella is an ongoing storyline in the Women’s division. This initially resulted in a match between Carmella and Nikki Bella. Nikki successfully defeated Carmella but after the match, Carmella went on to say that it was Natalya that attacked Nikki.
A Natalya vs. Nikki feud could be on the cards now but that does not mean it was Natalya that attacked Nikki. There are rumours about Eva Marie being the attacker and it makes much more sense than Natalya. The Natalya reveal was pretty flat and WWE ending a hot angle like this in a cold manner is unlikely.
#3 Free birds?
Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt ended the reign of Heath Slater and Rhyno to become the new tag team champions. After the match, Orton and Bray kept the championship on the shoulders of Luke Harper and with what’s happening on Raw, the title could be defended in free bird rule on SmackDown as well.
Slater and Rhyno would obviously be the first set of challengers for the new champions but they are unlikely to regain the championship match. There are some other great challengers for the Wyatt Family apart from Slater and Rhyno and their road to Royal Rumble could give an idea about what the long-term plan for the team is.
#2 New face of the division
Alexa Bliss defeated Becky Lynch at TLC to become the new SmackDown Women’s champion. The rise of Alexa to the top is something that made the fans happy and the new champion has clearly made the division fresh. Becky is bound to come back and challenge for the gold.
With the performances that Alexa has been giving ever since the Brand split, she could steal the show as champion.
The celebration of Alexa and the fall of Becky would be one of the major segments of the show and with the Women’s division of Raw getting stale, SmackDown could get one step ahead if they listen to the fans.
#1 The Ellsworth saga
James Ellsworth has been a major factor in the WWE championship scene for a long time now. At TLC, he pulled off one of the biggest surprises of the show when he helped out AJ Styles to retain the WWE title. With that said Ellsworth gave a long explanation on why he did that and said that he felt like he could beat AJ for the title next.
Ellsworth will be going up against AJ Styles for the gold on SmackDown Live and it would be one of the biggest surprises if he ends up actually getting the gold. While this is a possibility, the most likely outcome for the match is the destruction of Ellsworth.
AJ and Dean Ambrose might come together to get rid of Ellsworth and it could be his final chapter in the WWE championship scene.
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