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Some SmackDown Live episodes will break your heart, and this was one of those shows. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean this week's edition of the blue brand was bad in any way, this is just an assessment of moments that were heartbreaking to watch from the perspective of a fan.
It honestly seemed at times like the babyfaces kept losing, the company made a few questionable decisions, and it hurt the overall product. Of course, the company made up for it with some pretty good booking decisions, but other moments were just frustrating to watch and hard to understand.
Whether you agree with these stances or not are up to you and will depend on how much progress you believe SmackDown Live made this week. Here are the five most disappointing moments of SmackDown Live this week and what they could mean for the future.
#5 Roman Reigns' limited role
Roman Reigns was the first Superstar to air his grievances against Shane McMahon, but walked off right afterwards. Roman Reigns wasn't even put in a match Tuesday night on SmackDown Live and didn't appear on the rest of the show. If nothing else, this is a huge departure from the company's usual booking of Reigns and points to some interesting possibilities.
Maybe WWE is letting Roman Reigns cool off for a while so Kevin Owens can take his spot as the top guy. Or maybe WWE could have Reigns get jealous of the WWE Universe's love for Owens and use that to turn heel later on. Either way, WWE has a variety of options to go with here, but not seeing him much on television was a sad move.
If Roman Reigns is supposed to be the next big thing like the company has tried to make him into, he deserves a lot more television time than a two minute "kiss my a**" line to start the show.
#4 Liv Morgan losing
Let's be honest here.
Liv Morgan of The Riott Squad hasn't been seen in months and really needed a big victory to make up for that. Instead, however, she was met with a white-hot Charlotte Flair, who steamrolled her with little effort. Sure, Morgan got a few strikes in and had Charlotte on the ropes once or twice, but she ultimately fell victim to The Figure 8.
It makes sense for Morgan to lose the match, but not in the way that she did. WWE could have at least given her a little bit more offense during the match, or at least ended the match by pinfall to avoid an outright tap out. Either way, it made Morgan look weak and hurt her credibility.
In the end, though, Morgan did promise that she would return to the ring at a later time, which will be interesting to watch play out. Whether that ends up working or not remains to be seen, but at least WWE is promising something in the future.
#3 No locker room brawl
Shane McMahon has been using his power within the company, and did so again when the entire heel locker room emptied during the main event of SmackDown Live. Interestingly enough, however, Kevin Owens, who was competing against Dolph Ziggler in that night's main event, was still somehow able to deliver a stunner to McMahon and run off.
The locker room was left with very little to do in the closing moments of SmackDown Live and it looked a little ridiculous. That's why WWE should have done something like empty the face locker room at the end and have Owens slip away in the middle of the brawl.
Instead, a bunch of heel Superstars just looked dumbstruck while Owens ran up the ramp. In the end, it wasn't a good look for Owens and it's something the company is going to have to fix. WWE did a great job in the main event of SmackDown Live this week and it's only real problem was the ending to it.
#2 No Bray Wyatt followup
Another big problem with SmackDown Live was the fact that the company didn't follow up on the debut of The Fiend last night on Raw. Maybe one could argue that the company is just going to use him on Raw, but it would have been nice to see WWE do something beyond a recap.
WWE could have done anything else during that segment and it would have been more impactful. What's unfortunate about this situation is the fact that fans legitimately want to see more of The Fiend and how the storyline unfolds, but The WWE seems unwilling to pull the trigger.
Think about it! Why else would they not have The Fiend strike again on Smackdown Live? Or maybe even just doing an episode of The Firefly Fun House and have Balor on the program?Just give fans something that shows the storyline is moving forward and the company has something big planned!
#1 Kevin Owens bailing
Why in the world would WWE have their new anti-hero run?
Not only did that chip away at the credibility that Owens has tried to establish for himself, but it also was a lackluster end to SmackDown Live. Unfortunately for the show, which has been improving weekly, the incident happened after a relatively great two hours of programming.
In fact, between the locker room spilling out to support McMahon, to Owens getting one last stunner in on Shane, it was truly some of the best programming WWE has had in a while. The only problem was that WWE then had their top anti-hero run for the hills instead of standing his ground. That only helped to make Owens look weak and not the hero he was painted as.
Beyond all that, the solution to the problem was pretty simple. All WWE had to do was empty out the babyface side of the locker room too and give Owens a chance to brawl with Shane McMahon . At least that way, Owens wouldn't have had to run away and SmackDown Live would have had a more interesting ending.
