5 Opportunities WWE missed on this week's SmackDown - 10th April, 2020

The Friday Night SmackDown after WrestleMania 36 was a decent show with some good matches on offer. We started off with a rematch from the weekend, as Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross successfully defended the Women's tag titles against The Kabuki Warriors.

We got an update on The Miz as well, who explained that he wasn't medically cleared to participate at Mania and in the process a match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships was set up for next week. The Forgotten Suns also made their debut on the Blue brand, making the move from NXT.

The show ended with Braun Strowman easily fending off Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event of the show. The Monster Among Men was then challenged by Bray Wyatt for the Universal Championship and Strowman said that he was ready to let him in whenever Bray wanted.

While new storylines came into being and massive developments took place on this week's SmackDown, there are still a few areas where WWE could have done better. Let us now look at the opportunities that WWE missed out on.

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#5 Giving Sheamus a proper feud

Sheamus can do much better than fighting enhancement talents

Given the storied career that Sheamus has had in WWE, he's bound to grab eyeballs whenever he enters the ring. You do not want to have one of the best in-ring performers the company has had in the last decade compete in pointless matches.

Yet, today, The Celtic Warrior faced off with Cal Bloom in a squash match. If you're not aware of who the latter is, nobody can really blame you. Sheamus has been used sporadically ever since he made his return in January this year and it's about time that stops.

WWE's weekly programming after WrestleMania is known for debuts and returns. Since Sheamus isn't really feuding with anyone right now, he could've been easily thrust into a storyline with a returning Superstar or a debutant from NXT. Being involved with Sheamus could also elevate the said Superstar. However, that wasn't to be and the former King of the Ring ended up being involved in an inconsequential match.

#4 Re-establishing King Corbin's reputation as a top heel

King Corbin is one of the most vicious heels in WWE right now

King Corbin is yet another Superstar looking for some sense of direction following his feud with Roman Reigns that culminated at Royal Rumble in January this year. It's rather surprising that Corbin is not a part of any massive storyline given how much of a crowd reaction he was able to evoke, getting The Big Dog really over with the fans in the process.

His feud with Elias has been very underwhelming and their match at WrestleMania wasn't one for the headlines either. Corbin even ended up taking the pin which has surely eaten into his standing as a top Superstar for the company.

Nevertheless, King Corbin is still one of the best in-ring performers on the Blue brand and keeping him idle would dent his already fizzling reputation as a top heel. Even he could have done with getting face to face with a returning Superstar. If not a well-defined feud, Corbin should at least be on WWE TV week in and week out, putting over babyfaces for the company.

#3 Letting Sami Zayn shine and having all SmackDown champions feature on the show in the process

Sami Zayn was the only SmackDown champion to not feature on the show this week

Sami Zayn needed the help of The Artist Collective to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania. However, he put up a good match at the Show of Shows and has established his persona of a cowardly heel well.

It took Zayn a lot of years to claim his first-ever title after making his permanent move to the main roster in 2016. He certainly wouldn't want to slow down now, especially when he's only starting to become a household name.

That Zayn holds a championship is also of special importance right now. WWE finally have all their titles on full-time Superstars. And in unprecedented times like these, Vince McMahon and co. would do well to have all champions feature regularly to get more eyes on the product.

Sami Zayn was the only champion on the Blue brand to not be involved in a segment this week which is certainly a miss. With Daniel Bryan set to face Cesaro in a Money in the Bank qualifier match next week, let's hope that we get to know Zayn's new opponent on the upcoming edition of SmackDown.

#2 Starting the imminent feud between Sasha Banks and Bayley

Sasha Banks vs Bayley needs to happen soon

The incidents of the last few weeks have been pointing out one thing clearly- Sasha Banks and Bayley are likely to split up soon. Many expected this to materialize on WrestleMania itself when Bayley accidentally hit Banks and parried away Lacey Evans' counter which resulted in the elimination of The Boss. However, Banks decided to still have her best friend's back.

When Tamina challenged Bayley for her SmackDown Women's Championship on today's SmackDown, the latter said that the former could have the match only if she could beat Banks. While this obviously sets up discontent in the mind of The Boss, there was no need for this match to happen as Tamina is unlikely to be in the title picture for much longer. Banks could have confronted Bayley today itself.

Sasha Banks has been one of the pioneers of the women's revolution, but her career has stalled in the past few months. With Bayley as the champion, Banks hasn't been in a situation to go after the SmackDown women's title on her own but that should have changed today. WWE could have had its staple change of character that's expected in the week after WrestleMania but it looks like we'll have to wait a bit longer.

#1 Building on Otis' & Mandy Rose's hype

The best WrestleMania moment from this year?

If there's one storyline that has fans really invested into the weekly programming, it's that of Otis & Mandy Rose. The duo provided us with probably the best feel-good moment of WrestleMania 36 and the WWE Universe would have loved to see them in action on SmackDown this week.

Instead, what we got was Tucker showing Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville photos of the aforementioned couple. We did see a match between Ziggler and Tucker with The Showoff getting the victory but this really led us to nowhere. A confrontation between the Fire and Desire teammates would have made much more sense, with Otis and Ziggler in either corner.

There was the option for multiple reveals as well, such as the identity of the mystery hacker, or the reason behind Sonya's betrayal. Going ahead with anything of this sort would've given a concrete direction to this feud but that wasn't the case. Without having anything noteworthy take place this week, Otis' & Mandy could lose their buzz and that's not a risk worth taking for the WWE.