3 Interesting observations from this week's SmackDown Live (January 15, 2019)

From an Attitude-Era style segment to Rey Mysterio and Andrade putting on one of the best matches of the year so far, this week's edition of WWE SmackDown Live (15th January 2019) featured a lot of contrasting moments indeed.

Regardless of what you might think about the show as a whole, I genuinely loved the fact that WWE took a lot of risks for a weekly show. People were entertained throughout, and the episode featured a lot of idiosyncratic moments as well. Be sure to sound off in the comments section below regarding last night's SmackDown Live. Did you think RAW did a better job this week?

Nevertheless, with Royal Rumble just two weeks away, let us take a look at some interesting observations you may have missed during this week's edition of SmackDown Live...

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#3 What's up with the random cameos for the second time this week?

WWE's fresh faces appeared on last night's show, but not in the way you think

On this week's Monday Night RAW, EC3 and Lacey Evans made backstage cameos while Nikki Cross wrestled in a 6-Woman Tag Team Match.

This trend was also seen in last night's SmackDown Live. Otis Dozovic of Heavy Machinery just might be one of WWE's most idiosyncratic and unorthodox talents, as The New Day and Heavy Machinery were involved in a hilarious backstage bit which also involved Becky Lynch.

Samoa Joe noticed EC3 admiring himself backstage, while Nikki Cross made sure to put Rey Mysterio off his game before the ultimate luchador would go one-on-one with Andrade (what happened to Cien Almas?)

Lacey Evans was observing Becky Lynch taking on Peyton Royce in the ring from a monitor backstage.

Say what you want about WWE's reluctance to let these new stars wrestle on the main roster already, but I personally thought that these random cameos and small bits on both RAW and SmackDown. They add a hint of realism to the show as a collective whole. We finally got to see how these stars interact with the rest of the roster upon their arrival.

#2 WWE has been portraying Attitude Era Style segments quite frequently lately

Nobody expected WWE to revert back to the old ways in today's era

In case you haven't heard, Mandy Rose and Jimmy Uso were involved in a scandalous segment from last night's show. Naomi intervened after a series of suggestive moments.

Nevertheless, I personally enjoyed this segment simply because of how risky it was. Of course, the whole situation itself was quite corny with soap-operatic themes running wild throughout its entirety.

Alexa Bliss was also involved in an adult-oriented segment involving a stagehand accidentally finding her in a state of undress on RAW this week. Mandy Rose was also involved in a similar situation a few weeks ago on a pre-taped episode of SmackDown Live which involved a lot of suggestive undertones as well.

Perhaps the company is experimenting with this theme quite a lot more simply because controversy draws attention and WWE's new way of actually 'listening' to their fans might work on both ends of the spectrum.

It is 2019, and there is way more adult-oriented stuff on TV nowadays. Maybe WWE is leaning back on this element so as to find out how much they can actually get away with it.

#1 Is SmackDown Live a wide variety of TV Shows disguised as a wrestling programme?

SmackDown certainly represents a wide variety of themes in a span of two hours every week

Last night's SmackDown Live was bizarre and certainly news-worthy. Episodes like these are the ones that make us contemplate about the bigger questions.

First of all, it is pretty apparent that SmackDown Live features a wider scope and more room for experimentation when compared to Monday Night RAW. SmackDown Live will move to FOX network as part of a five-year contract that begins on October 4, 2019. This also means that the show actually has to be compelling enough in order to draw more viewers.

Over the past year, many hardcore fans even put SmackDown Live over RAW simply because the former show tried to incorporate new things step-by-step.

Sometimes, the show features soap-operatic moments over pure wrestling (like last night's segment involving Mandy Rose). SmackDown Live has also relied on a lot of humour each and every week. The wrestling part of a 'wrestling show' seems to fade away as these secondary elements take over. But then again, we also witnessed Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade last night, which is a matchup that has fascinated a lot of fans too.

Comedy, promos and innovative segments sometimes overshadow the 'wrestling' aspect of a 'wrestling show'. But in this case, SmackDown Live seems to have struck a chord with the viewers by adopting this unconventional approach, and then there's Becky Lynch...

SmackDown Live is a wide variety of TV Shows, and wrestling just so happens to be a part of it.

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