5 things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown: "The Fiend" gets destroyed, returning star earns title shot after 9 years? (January 17th 2020)

SmackDown put on yet another solid show. It was the penultimate episode to WWE Royal Rumble and we only have one more week of programming before the road to WrestleMania begins. That's right. One more episode of RAW (which is promisingly stacked) and SmackDown.

No major matches have been announced for last week but the show as a whole had a good level of consistency that it lacked recently and it was good from start until the finish.

Here are a few things that WWE subtly told us!

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#5 The continued fine storytelling in the Universal title feud

The Fiend was ambushed

We predicted that Kane would be under the control of "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt. Admittedly, we were wrong and are more than happy to be. Kane fully expected the confrontation from Wyatt at first - who pointed out The Big Red Monster's photo on his wall of the Firefly Fun House.

After that, the lights went out and Kane was outside of the ring rather than standing cluelessly inside it. Without even looking back, he asked The Fiend what took him so long and it was here where Wyatt turned around, only to eat a running knee from Daniel Bryan.

Bryan attacked him and shoved him back in the hole of the ring where he came from, taking a couple of thick strands of his hair with him. After the segment, Bryan demanded a "strap match" at the Royal Rumble.

A "strap match" is one where a strap will be tied to the wrists of both men. While some were surprised, we love this stipulation as it plays right into the intricate storytelling of this rivalry. This has been the best Universal title feud in years and it's not even close.

We won't be surprised to see Kane ringside for the Universal title match at the Royal Rumble 2020.

#2 John Morrison's successful return could result in a big opportunity

A successful outing

Last week, John Morrison appeared on Miz TV to defend his former tag team partner The Miz, who faced Kofi Kingston right after the segment. While Morrison's role in the match was intended to be for commentary only, it didn't work that way and The Shaman of Sexy ended up interjecting at ringside - taking out Big E, distracting Kofi Kingston, and allowing The Miz to pick up the win over the former WWE Champion.

This week, Morrison made his return to a WWE ring after nearly 9 years and faced Big E - a contest that went all too similar to last week's contest between The Miz and Kingston. Morrison hit his signature Starship Pain to pick up the win, meaning that both men have singles wins over the tag team champions.

This means that after nearly 9 years away, Morrison's emphatic return victory may have done enough to earn him a title shot. We fully expect The Miz and Morrison to get a tag team title shot at the 2020 Royal Rumble. That would be the perfect match to open the show (though we don't believe it will) and whether or not they'll win the titles, we can't say for sure.

#3 WWE still protecting Sasha Banks

Sasha Banks couldn't get far with the excuses

Last week, Sasha Banks didn't show up for her match against Lacey Evans - choosing to stay in another city altogether while recording her music. Instead, Bayley came out and then had a backstage brawl with her.

This week, Sasha Banks was injured from a Lacey Evans attack. She refused to compete in the match and a backstage official pressured her to compete since the match was advertised. Instead, Bayley was forced to take her spot and ended up losing to Evans in a non-title match.

Weirdly WWE has done more to protect Sasha Banks and keep her away from Evans than they have with Bayley. It's understandable since they needed her to pin Bayley to set up the shot, but there could be a reason why WWE is going out of their way to protect Banks.

Banks hasn't lost all too much since Hell in a Cell and perhaps the reason why is because of big plans for WrestleMania. Usually, this is the time when WWE carefully protects the superstars they intend to push heading into WrestleMania season and as a result - they keep protecting her.

#2 The Revival's "slide"

A clear slide

This is a more interesting one than you might realize. Although it took us a while to notice, the commentators pointed out that The Revival has been on a slide recently, taking a lot more losses than they would have hoped.

The latest episode of SmackDown was no exception as they took on their old rivals from RAW last year - The Usos. They were handily defeated, and thankfully, there was no itchy cream or rubbing each others' backs involved this time.

It was a fairly straightforward match and they lost once again. The note about them being on a slide coincides with what the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote recently - that The Revival is almost all but certain to leave WWE and this is merely the tradition of burying them on their way out.

To add to it, The Revival even filed for a trademark outside of WWE, adding fuel to the fire of speculation. It appears as though every year, there are always rumors about The Revival potentially leaving the company and after that - accepting new deals. If they start getting pushed again soon, then you know for sure that they put the pen on paper with their WWE contract.

#1 A grand opener for a grand show?

Roman Reigns

Earlier in the night, Roman Reigns told his brothers The Usos, that he had a stipulation match in mind for the Royal Rumble. While he's competing in the Royal Rumble match (and could be the winner), he's first set to take on King Corbin.

On SmackDown, he took on the returning Robert Roode - who came back to the ring after a month - in a tables match. The added stipulation was that if Reigns won, he would choose his stipulation against King Corbin at the Royal Rumble while if Roode won, Corbin would pick the stipulation.

As expected, Dolph Ziggler and King Corbin got involved, but it was The Usos who interjected and evened the odds, splashing on Ziggler through a table and allowing Roman Reigns to spear Roode through the table.

It was an unsuccessful return for The Glorious One but the crowd certainly loved Reigns winning the match. After he was done, he declared to Corbin that since the Rumble is in a Baseball stadium, he wants to "whoop him all over" and revealed that the stipulation for their match will be "Falls Count Anywhere".

We love this idea and believe it will be the opener for the night - especially since Reigns will have a big role in the main event as well.