3 Interesting observations from this week's SmackDown Live (April 30, 2019)

From The Hardy Boyz relinquishing their tag team titles to Kofi Kingston getting a measure of payback against Kevin Owens, this week's edition of WWE SmackDown Live (30th April 2019) featured a lot of contrasting moments indeed.

Comparatively, SmackDown Live is usually the better show of the week simply because it covers major plot points in a lesser amount of time, which makes it an easier show to watch, unlike Monday Night RAW. However, it does not mean that last night's episode offered us a compelling reason to stick around after this year's WrestleMania season, and because of that, weekly viewership continues to suffer at this time of the year.

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

---

#3 Kevin Owens will keep trying to create friction between members of The New Day

Kevin Owens mocked the injured Xavier Woods on The Kevin Owens Show

If there's one thing we can all note down after last night's episode, its that Kevin Owens is a master at exploiting his opponents' weaknesses.

Owens tried to create friction between Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E by hinting that Xavier Woods is being undermined because of Kofi Kingston's success.

Kevin Owens also questioned Kofi's self-confidence before heading into Money in the Bank.

To some extent, the show hasn't really moved on from Kofi's victory at WrestleMania 35, since it feels like every SmackDown Live episode after this year's WrestleMania seems to be a celebration centred around Kofi Kingston as our new WWE Champion.

Kevin Owens is here to remind us that it is time to move on. The past remains in the past, and the time to celebrate is over. Kofi Kingston's reign as WWE Champion will be tested at Money in the Bank, and only then we will get to know whether Kofi Kingston is a reliable long-term champion or not.

#2 Why Roman Reigns being on SmackDown Live is proving to be a double-edged sword

Roman Reigns steered through a handicap match during the episode

In a way, Roman Reigns adds a much-needed dose of star power to the SmackDown Live roster.

Even the fans seem to be more energized during a Roman Reigns match/segment than any other part of the show. Last night, Reigns defeated The B-Team in a handicap match after defying all odds with Elias as Special Guest Referee.

The match itself hooked the WWE Universe right from the beginning, but the reason why Roman Reigns being on SmackDown Live is proving to be a double-edged sword is because we know that he will be booked to rise to the top, and that requires the writers to undermine the talents of other superstars on the roster.

With The Hardy Boyz no longer active as a tag team for the time being, perhaps it wasn't such a great idea to embarass The B-Team during their first night on SmackDown Live especially when the SmackDown Live Tag Division had suffered a great loss on the same night several moments before.

#1 Lars Sullivan benefited the most as a singles competitor during the episode

Lars Sullivan demolished R-Truth and Matt Hardy in relentless fashion

Lars Sullivan has been on an endless path of destruction by laying waste to superstars on both RAW and SmackDown Live rosters.

Even though this routine is quite repetitive, things took an interesting turn last night, where Jeff Hardy's unfortunate injury was blamed upon Lars Sullivan's relentless assault. In true monster heel fashion, Lars would come out to demolish Matt Hardy and turn his attention towards Jeff Hardy, before being attacked by R-Truth from behind.

Nevertheless, even R-Truth could not overcome The Freak. In the end, as the picture suggests, Lars Sullivan stood tall yet again.

So even if The Hardy Boyz' exit is a huge loss to the SmackDown Live Tag Team Division, the writers were clever enough to pin this heat on Lars Sullivan, which added more stock to his character than ever before.

With no particular feud being interesting enough to create some concrete buzz post-WrestleMania Season, perhaps it is time when WWE invests their focus on developing unique characters for the foreseeable future...

---

Thanks for reading this article, please share it to spread the word. Leave your thoughts in the comments section below, and stay tuned for more.