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After a decent showing by SmackDown Live at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view, the Superstars got back to building more storylines on Tuesday Night for the weeks to come.
Just 24 hours after defeating Chad Gable to become the 2019 King of the Ring, Baron Corbin stepped over to the Blue brand for his coronation ceremony. Rowan also appeared on SmackDown Live more than once during the night and with Harper by his side, may have built their biggest feud yet.
Apart from that, the two challengers to the top women’s champions went head-to-head in a battle of supremacy, while Kofi Kingston came face-to-face with his biggest threat to date.
All this and more was on offer on this week’s SmackDown Live, and WWE managed to hit the nail on the head a few times during the night. Take a look at the 5 things WWE got just right on this week’s SmackDown Live, and share your favorite moments from the show in the comments section.
#1 Immediately moved on to another Intercontinental Champion challenger
At Clash of Champions, Shinsuke Nakamura faced The Miz in a feud that seemed a bit hurried and ended a bit too quickly. While The Artist and The A-lister are two of WWE’s top Superstars, they couldn’t get the flow going during their match, and Nakamura was able to retain his title with the help of Sami Zayn.
This week on SmackDown, WWE realized the mistake they had made with the champion’s previous feud and immediately started building towards his next rivalry.
During a segment involving Nakamura, Sami Zayn, and Ali, Nakamura laid out Ali with the Kinshasa. The spot now allows WWE to start building a good rivalry between these two men for the title en route to Hell in a Cell.
Even though the segment was immediately followed by Kevin Owens’ coming into the arena, the Creative managed to build heat for the champion and his manager, introduced the next challenger, and set up a rivalry which might have more time to play out.
#2 Kept building Heavy Machinery
SmackDown Live’s tag team division hasn’t been the same since the arrival of Heavy Machinery. Otis and Tucker have added a new and unique dimension to the brand which has really worked with the division and the WWE Universe.
This week on SmackDown, the duo was lucky to compete in the final match of the night. Former RAW Tag Team Champions Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel tried their best to slow down Heavy Machinery’s momentum but were no match for the heavyweights even though they got some time to showcase their own skills.
After a decent fight, Tucker laid out Axel and joined Otis for the Compactor for the pinfall victory. Even though the match doesn’t mean much in terms of what’s next for both teams, it was a fun watch and allowed the WWE creatives another chance to keep Heavy Machinery fresh in the minds of the fans. The match also continued to add the fun aspect to the Blue brand while the Red brand continued with a more serious tone.
Otis has a huge chance of becoming a future breakout star and going ahead as a babyface singles competitor after he’s done with Heavy Machinery.
#3 Put Chad Gable over once again
While many fans were thrilled to see Baron Corbin become the King of the Ring on Monday Night, they were also disheartened to see the fast-rising babyface Chad Gable come so close to a title many thought he shouldn’t even be competing for.
Just 24 hours after his victory, Corbin arrived on SmackDown for his King of the Ring coronation ceremony. Corbin called Gable to the ring and proceeded to make short jokes at the expense of the 2012 Olympian.
This didn’t work with the KOTR runner-up who decided to ruin to proceedings in return and tore the cape before assaulting Corbin with his newly won scepter and stomping the crown.
The creatives managed to hit the nail on the head with this one as not only have they given us a King who will rub his title in our faces for months to come but also gave Gable more spotlight even after his loss in the finals.
If the two compete on the upcoming RAW or the pre-show of Hell in a Cell then not only will the match give Gable more exposure, and possibly a victory, but also bring more heat towards an already despicable Corbin.
#4 Introduced a weak link in the Women’s championship picture
WWE has been trying hard to protect the Four Horsewomen in every way possible in their current feuds for the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championship.
While Bayley was able to defeat Charlotte Flair, albeit with the use of some heelish tactics, to defend her SmackDown Women’s Championship, Sasha Banks won her match against Becky Lynch by disqualification, but could not win the RAW Women’s title.
On Monday night, Bayley and Sasha took on the Women’s Tag Team Champions in a non-title match. While Nikki Cross took the pin to allow the heels to win the match, WWE protected the Women’s Tag Team Champions by showing that Bliss was injured and could not carry on in the match.
This week on SmackDown, WWE once again allowed a disqualification win for Charlotte against Sasha Banks in a singles match after the interference of Bayley.
While this was going overboard, it was right of WWE to include Carmella into the picture after the match to save Charlotte who was under a two-on-one beatdown.
Expect a tag team match next Monday or Tuesday with WWE allowing Bayley and Sasha to score a win and getting over by pinning The Princess of Long Island while protecting The Queen.
#5 Brought back The Beast
After Kofi Kingston defeated Randy Orton at Clash of Champions, it felt like he had run through every top heel on SmackDown during his title reign and there was no one left who could prove to be a real threat to the WWE Champion.
What fans, and even Kofi himself, didn’t realize was the fact that he hadn’t faced the wrath of The Beast for the title yet. Moments after The New Day defeated The Revival and Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar's music played and The Beast appeared to a thunderous ovation from the stunned audience.
Flanked by his advocate Paul Heyman, the big announcement that Lesnar would challenge the WWE Champion on the October 4 episode of SmackDown Live on FOX was made.
Right after Kofi accepted the challenge, he ate an F-5 for his trouble. This certified that Kofi has finally met the biggest challenge for his title to date and that there was no way out for the Superstar who last fought The Beast during The Beast in the East event and ended up eating multiple F-5s.
What made the segment even better was the fact that WWE did not advertise, hype or otherwise hint The Beast would be appearing on tonight's show. This was the right call to make at a time when Kofi has proven to be one of WWE’s top champions.
