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On Friday night, WWE aired its final episode of scheduled programming before the Survivor Series event. SmackDown had everything a go-home episode should have, as not only did we get to witness great matches and segments that set up the events which will unfold on Sunday but also got another great invasion angle to end the transmission.
Throughout the night, the company kept giving certain hints as to what fans could expect from the event and the matches that will take place.
In this article, we'll look at 5 things WWE hinted on SmackDown this week in the final build to Survivor Series.
#5 Kofi Kingston will win it for his team
After a segment involving Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn, and the new Intercontinental Championship, we saw The Undisputed Era make an appearance on SmackDown once again.
The New Day arrived to battle the four men who attacked them last week, and Heavy Machinery appeared to partner up with them in an eight-man tag team clash. The match started well, and an argument between Otis and Big E saw Kofi Kingston play the iron man in the contest.
WWE has always seen Kofi as an iron man, and we’ve seen great performances from him in the past which have impressed the WWE Universe. While Kofi was nowhere to be seen after he tagged out after a long spell in the ring, he could prove to be the man who helps his team pick up the victory on Sunday.
The Undisputed Era won Friday’s match as Kofi did not make it back into the match, and the company could use him to orchestrate the victory for SmackDown at Survivor Series. The New Day is arguably still the biggest faction and the best merchandise movers in the company, so WWE would want to put them across as the best once again.
#4 Toni Storm could return to join Team NXT
The last time we saw the former NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm was on August 31 at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, as she battled Kay Lee Ray to defend her Championship. However, she lost the battle to defend her title and went on a hiatus from NXT UK thereafter. Since then, we’ve only seen Storm in interviews and around, but she made her return to television this week in grand style.
Toni Storm appeared with Rhea Ripley and the three other women who will be part of Team Ripley at WarGames. While Storm will not be a part of WarGames, it seems more than likely that WWE hinted at her inclusion in Team NXT for Sunday.
Currently, the company has only announced Ripley as the captain of Team NXT for Survivor Series, while the other four slots are vacant.
Therefore, Storm’s appearance this week with Ripley hints towards her availability for Sunday, and if that’s the case, then the company should add the former NXT UK Women’s Champion to the match to increase the star power.
#3 Nikki Cross could cost Team SmackDown
Nikki Cross had to try hard to make it to Team SmackDown, unlike the other four women who were announced as part of the team. Sasha Banks was announced the leader of the brand’s women’s team, while Dana Brooke, Carmella, and Lacey Evans easily made the cut.
Cross, on the other hand, was forced to earn her spot, which she did by scoring a win over a team of NXT invaders a few weeks ago.
While Cross is part of the team, she hasn’t had the best time with the team’s captain. On NXT last week, she cleared out everyone during a brawl by bringing an object to the fight. She attacked the Superstars of RAW, NXT, and even her brand in the process.
This week on SmackDown, during a match between Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair, and Sasha Banks, Ripley shoved Banks into Cross, which led to a major argument between the two women, and the rest of the SmackDown team had to intervene.
It seems like WWE is hinting at a possible angle between Cross and Banks coming out of Survivor Series, and the final blow could come at the PPV where Cross could double-cross Banks and cost SmackDown the match against the women of RAW and NXT.
#2 Bayley will play an equal role in the WWE Women’s Champions match
When the invasion angle initially began after Crown Jewel, Bayley was the first main roster Superstar to be targeted by the Black & Gold brand. NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler appeared to lay out the SmackDown Women’s Champion, sending a cold message to everyone in the locker room.
After that, we got an intense one-on-one backstage sitdown between RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Baszler, which made many fans believe that the real battle would be between Lynch and Baszler, while Bayley would play the easy target.
However, WWE then started to build the SmackDown Women’s Champion at par with Baszler, allowing her to invade NXT to make a statement, before laying out the NXT Women’s Champion this week on SmackDown once again.
This is a major hint that Bayley could be a dark horse in the clash, and may even go on to win the encounter to give both Baszler and Lynch a future match to settle the score between them.
Bayley’s new character has provided her with a villainous edge, and the company could cash in on her new persona, putting her across as the heelish winner, allowing Lynch and Baszler lock horns at a later date.
#1 Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt’s rivalry won’t last long
Last year, WWE tested out a great angle between Daniel Bryan and The Miz, but the rivalry ended way too quickly for the fans to be satisfied. Since then, we’ve seen both men turn face and battle as faces, but fans still want that epic rivalry between them.
Although Bryan is currently in the hunt for ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt and his Universal Championship, and Miz is busy taking falls to put other men over, WWE hinted this week that we could get the real rivalry we’ve been looking for between these two men sooner than later.
Bryan will face Wyatt for the Universal Championship at Survivor Series this Sunday, but it seems unlikely he'll be going over against the newly crowned champion. Instead, we could watch Bryan quickly fall out of his short rivalry against Wyatt after Survivor Series, and turn his focus to The A-lister once again as early as next Friday.
The Miz was earlier reported to be Wyatt’s first opponent for the title, but plans were changed and Bryan was chosen as the first man to face the new Universal Champion on television. A rivalry between Bryan and Miz could allow the latter to become the next challenger to Wyatt’s prize.
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