3 Interesting observations from this week's SmackDown Live (May 14, 2019)

From Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn ambushing Kofi Kingston to Roman Reigns teaming up with The Usos in a handicap match, this week's edition of WWE SmackDown Live (14th May 2019) featured a lot of contrasting moments indeed.

Last night's episode was serviceable because it is a well-known fact that the writers have chosen to play it safe on the blue brand during the past recent couple of months. Unlike the version of SmackDown Live that used to be bold and daring, we have to sit through episodes that rarely create any major buzz nowadays.

But it is what it is. There is nothing particularly awful or atrocious about SmackDown Live, in fact, the episodes are quite decent, but they rarely leave a mark because of relatively safe booking in recent times.

Nevertheless, here are a few interesting observations you may have missed during this week's edition of SmackDown Live.

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#3: How Kofi Kingston's character developed towards the end of the show

A large part of the Kofi-Owens feud is centered around The New Day, and how the faction might be the main reason why Kofi Kingston is champion in the first place.

Kevin Owens' tirade against Kofi Kingston is largely built around this very aspect too. Is Kofi Kingston dependent on his New Day brothers to retain the WWE Championship?

Last night's episode chose to answer that question partly when Kingston assured Xavier Woods backstage that he could take care of Kevin Owens all by himself.

Later on during the segment itself, just when it seems that Sami and Owens have the upper-hand, Kofi miraculously overcomes the threat all by himself and stands tall at the end of the episode.

This shows us that as a WWE character, Kofi's perseverance might be what it takes for him to deal with foes as a singles competitor.

His character may be independent of the New Day after all, but it does not mean that he needs to let go of his New Day brothers, because that is not who Kofi Kingston is in the end.

#2: The SmackDown Live Tag Team Division suffers from incoherent buildup and continuity issues

Just recently, it was teased that Daniel Bryan and Rowan would feud with Heavy Machinery for the SmackDown Live Tag Team titles.

In fact, this was teased right after Bryan and Rowan became the new SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions.

Oddly, WWE has announced that Bryan and Rowan will face The Usos at this year's Money In The Bank Kickoff Show, that too, with the tag team titles at stake (Keep in mind that The Usos officially belong on RAW).

Even though I have no doubt that this particular match will be fun to watch, the situation itself raises several continuity issues at hand when it comes to Tag Team Divisions on both shows.

At the same time, the buildup to several Tag Team feuds is incoherent and uncharacteristic.

So at this point in time, it is probably a better idea to stop expecting great results from the Tag Team feuds on both rosters, no matter who the champions are because the booking more or less tends to be the same.

#1: Roman Reigns' current scenario is a mixed bag of good and bad decisions

As I previously mentioned in this week's Interesting Observations from RAW article (May 13th, 2019), the Wild Card rule seems to benefit Roman Reigns the most.

On top of that, last night's SmackDown Live episode makes it even more apparent that Roman Reigns' current feud affects other superstars on the show as well.

This is because it is still not clear as to which superstar is Roman Reigns' ultimate foe in this particular feud. Is it Elias? Is it Shane McMahon?

Reigns opened both RAW and SmackDown Live in London this week, only to establish the same key points (or tropes) over and over again. This takes away a lot of potential TV Time from other lesser known superstars.

It makes sense to push Roman Reigns as the top star at this point. This is because his comeback story has led to a massive upsurge in fans finally embracing Reigns for who he is. The man himself has improved gradually on the mic and in the ring as time has passed us by.

But the fact that Reigns got booed in London this week shows us that there are a lot of problems with the direction this feud is heading in as of right now.

There are no clear motives here since a lot of storylines overlap during the same show which eventually culminates in a tag team match, as always.

As Riju Dasgupta mentioned in his Best & Worst Article for SmackDown Live this week, the Firefly Fun House was the best thing about both shows this week, but unfortunately, nothing else on SmackDown Live was bold or compelling enough to match it.

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