3 Interesting observations from SmackDown on FOX (October 18, 2019)

By Kartik Arry
Modified Oct 19, 2019 19:19 IST
Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan reigned supreme in the main event of the night!
Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan reigned supreme in the main event of the night!

Last night's Friday Night SmackDown episode wasn't as eventful as one hoped it would be. This comes across as a huge problem during a time where the company needs to create a sense of urgency across its shows.

There might be several reasons why the Blue brand is falling behind in viewership since its premiere on FOX, but in today's era of digital streaming, people are likely to watch the show at their convenience if nothing major occurs during the live stream.

This doesn't mean that the show was bad at all. Daniel Bryan and Nikki Cross had major developments for their singles career.

Here are a few interesting observations from this week's WWE SmackDown:

#3 'Nikki Cross vs. Bayley' might be a deserving fresh start for the SmackDown Women's Division

The Blue brand might be onto something new when it comes to the SmackDown Women's Championship scenario.

By shifting focus away from Charlotte Flair and Bayley's old persona, it turns out that Nikki Cross just became the new #1 contender for a title held by an edgier version of Bayley.

It is good to shuffle things around now and then, but even if this feud might not be the biggest draw in viewership that the show desperately needs, it certainly has the potential to kickstart a Women's Division that is seemingly stuck in its old ways.

A roster needs distinct personalities to succeed in terms of quality, and Bayley's new gimmick might be the division's defining face after all.

Admittedly, there was something unusual about her interview on Miz TV. Maybe the writers fed her with cheesy lines from start-to-finish, or perhaps Bayley's ability as a talker isn't outstanding in any way.

But make no mistake, people are responding to Bayley in some way, and if WWE decides to capitalize on that response and do something about it, we could witness a brand new period with Bayley as the 'next big thing' on the roster.

#2 The absence of big names could be felt throughout the episode

Following this year's WWE Draft, Friday Night SmackDown's biggest strengths lie in their biggest picks.

As everyone knows by now, the Blue brand is all about following the "bigger is better" approach when it comes to Professional Wrestling, or at least that's what it seemed like because last night's episode didn't feature it's 'current' big names at all.

By that, I mean huge Superstars who are currently the most relevant in the company, due to their current arcs, like Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Bray Wyatt.

The absence of several big names could be felt throughout the episode, and this will automatically reflect in the show's viewership for this week.

As silly (in a good way) as it was, Drew Gulak's Powerpoint Presentations were a byproduct of spicing things up in the banalest of situations - such as a squash match featuring Braun Strowman & Drew Gulak.

Again, to be clear, the show's issue doesn't lie in the fact that they didn't choose to feature 'big' names this week. The problem is that the most relevant names weren't featured - which automatically makes the episode less relevant in general.

And live viewership is all about hooking your viewers during the moment, otherwise, as mentioned before, people are more likely to watch WWE shows at their convenience in the age of digital streaming.

#1 Daniel Bryan finally gets a step up after turning babyface (but what about Roman Reigns?)

After what seemed to be months of being stuck in a loop, Daniel Bryan finally moved a step ahead on the SmackDown roster.

In a tag team main event, The Planet's Advocate pinned Shinsuke Nakamura, who is the current Intercontinental Champion.

Of course, this might lead to a program between the two Superstars, which is great news since both Bryan and Nakamura have great chemistry with each other. Also, Daniel Bryan's babyface push is a lot more refreshing following his run as a heel alongside Erick Rowan.

On the other hand, Roman Reigns (Bryan's tag partner last night) is drifting aimlessly on the SmackDown roster as of right now.

The Big Dog is easily the most commercial superstar out of the new generation of wrestlers, but he has been stuck in a pointless position since the past few months.

The creative team have deliberately kept him away from the title scenario to avoid a rehash of the times when fans rebelled against Reigns as champion.

While that works to some extent, putting Reigns in pointless feuds has a very neutral effect on Friday Night SmackDown, because even though his segments/matches draw the most number of viewers, it doesn't encourage fans to stay with the product in the overall scheme of things.

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