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With so many questions leading up to SmackDown Live, it was interesting to see which route The blue brand will take next. What are the storylines that'll develop and will there be repercussions or mentions of the "6-0" scoreline? So without delaying further, let us jump straight to the five most important takeaways from the latest edition of SmackDown Live.
#1 Charlotte is getting the Big Push
Things finally started to come to light this SmackDown Live as Charlotte came out and spoke about standing up for the champion and doing all that she did just for that reason.
Then she was challenged by Peyton Roice and Billie Kay one by one which just seemed like another exercise to put Charlotte over even more.
It is becoming evident slowly but surely that the WrestleMania Blockbuster which was supposed to be "Charlotte Vs Ronda" is slowly turning into a Triple Threat with Becky Lynch making her way into the match.
#2 Shane McMahon and The Miz are going to be involved in "something"
There were talks about the "6-0" scoreline but no actions were discussed. In fact, there weren't any repercussions from what happened at Survivor Series.
Barring one, Shane Mcmahon was invited to Miz Tv and The Miz made a proposition to Shane to form an alliance with him in what would be the "Best team in the world".
Although subsequently in a match against a bunch of jobbers, The Miz actually ended up getting accidentally pinned it has started what could be an interesting storyline because it could go either way.
It could lead to a feud between Shane and The Miz or it could lead to a heel turn where both team up and form an alliance.
#3 Nakamura and US championship take another day off
What's going on with the US Championship? More importantly, what's going on with Shinsuke Nakamura?
When was the last time Nakamura was actually involved in a legitimate feud? He won the title from Jeff Hardy and that's about it. Even his match against Seth Rollins wasn't given any importance. It was just there.
Ever since the feud with Jeff Hardy(in which Randy Orton was extensively involved), Nakamura has been away from live television. And it's not only him it's the US Championship which is just not on the show to be defended.
These are worrying signs because it either shows that WWE has just lost interest in Nakamura and don't know what to do with him or that Nakamura has made up his mind about leaving WWE because of a lack of proper writing and is just biding his time and waiting for the contract to expire.
#4 Its official, Daniel Bryan is a heel now and Styles takes a break
Yes, it is Official. Daniel Bryan is a heel now. He cut an amazing promo and spoke about his struggle 3 years ago and how he almost gave up on himself.
At the same time, he spoke about how the WWE Universe gave up on him and moved on from him to wrestlers like AJ Styles. At the same time, he also proclaimed the death of the "YES" movement which had been associated with him for a long time now.
AJ Styles on his part was again not present on the show and with his contract negotiations going on it does look like the feud might go a predictable route. AJ Styles has been the champion for a long time and with the contract talks lingering in the background, it looks highly unlikely that AJ will come back to be the champion.
#5 The new Randy Orton is vicious and he is making the right impact
Randy Orton is slowly and steadily yet again carving a special niche for himself in the SmackDown universe. It has become more than apparent that the fact that Orton is already a 13-time champion is proving to be a huge hindrance for WWE right now(that's just 3 less than the 16 for Ric Flair and John Cena).
WWE has its hand tied as it can't push Orton to the main event and in the same breath, they can't discredit Orton because of the amount of work Orton has put in at WWE.
As a result what has happened is that Orton is forced to create a niche for himself out of nowhere. And surprisingly, he has been successful in doing that as the gimmick of the new "RKO" is super vicious(almost cringy) and it evokes an emotion better than what many superstars are able to on Smackdown right now.
