5 Things WWE Subtly told us on SmackDown: Popular name turns babyface after 6 years, Next title change possibly revealed?

Welcome to this week's edition of things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown. There are only two episodes of the blue brand left for the Day 1 pay-per-view - one on Christmas Eve and the other on New Year's Eve.

Both upcoming episodes will be pre-taped, but there are a few things that have been announced for SmackDown next week.

But before we can get to next week, we look at this week's episode and how things played out - starting with the main event segment and the most shocking moment on the Friday night show in a while:

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#5. The fallout from the main segment on SmackDown

Following last week's SmackDown and Roman Reigns' absence, The Tribal Chief returned this week. Once again, a lot of the focus was on Paul Heyman and how Reigns would react to him.

At first, Heyman thought that he was opening the door for the car of Roman Reigns, but it turned out to be Brock Lesnar. Later when he did, Reigns exited from the other door, showing a cold reception towards his special council.

In the ring, the way it was all going to play out was inevitable. The tension felt like it was there for a long time, and The Head of the Table continued to question Paul Heyman's credibility. He asked him why he was protecting Lesnar from him, but the Wiseman had something different to say.

Heyman said that he was protecting Roman Reigns from Brock Lesnar instead. Reigns simply hugged him and thanked him for forty years of service to his family before letting him know that he was fired.

He proceeded to hit Paul Heyman with the Superman Punch and got ready to slam a steel chair on him. Lesnar came out for the big babyface save, indicating that Heyman is now officially a babyface.

It's the first time since 2015 that he has been a babyface on TV. The fallout of this will be interesting, but we don't expect much storyline progression to happen next week on SmackDown.

#4. A prelude to the SmackDown Tag Team title feuds

The New Day's King Woods and Sir Kofi Kingston are officially the number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team titles. They have been after earning the opportunity recently, but The Usos haven't been in a good run of form themselves.

It can be traced back to Survivor Series, where they lost to the RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro. Recently, The Usos even lost the triple threat tag team match on the blue brand, where The New Day defeated them and RK-Bro to be proven as the best tag team in WWE.

This week on SmackDown, it was a non-title match between The New Day and The Usos. We're not sure why WWE wants to give away the matches on free TV without even a title on the line, as it drastically reduces the stakes.

Either way, King Woods and Sir Kofi Kingston picked up the win over their long-time rivals - who they will face for the titles at Day 1. It could be a spoiler, but the SmackDown Tag Team titles could be the next championship in the company to change hands.

#3. Naomi's payoff on SmackDown is coming sooner rather than later

The feud between Naomi and Sonya Deville has been happening on SmackDown for a while now. There seems to be some kind of conspiracy against the former women's champion.

Every week, she has attempted to get one over her every time, but she has found herself on the receiving end of an unfair beatdown.

That trend kept continuing, and this week on SmackDown, Naomi demanded a match against Deville. The authority figure came out and said that she couldn't be touched while she was wearing a suit. Instead, she arranged for Shayna Baszler to attack Naomi from behind, after which the bell rang.

Naomi picked up a sneaky victory within a minute and got a moment of payoff against the WWE official. The ultimate payoff, however, will only happen when the former faces Sonya Deville.

Hopefully, it happens at the Day 1 pay-per-view, as it will have been a year since Deville entered her authority figure role on both main roster brands.

Will Naomi finally get her comeuppance?

#2. The one-sided feud between Sheamus and Cesaro on SmackDown continues

While Cesaro gave Ridge Holland a loss on SmackDown upon the latter's debut, Holland has already gotten his win back. There seems to be a drastically different approach in how The Swiss Cyborg was booked earlier this year compared to now.

In the first half of the year, he had multiple clean wins over Daniel Bryan, defeated Seth Rollins at WrestleMania, seemed all set for a push, but things went downhill soon after. Rollins started to pick up more wins over Cesaro and his momentum on SmackDown has been completely downhill since then.

Even in his feud against Sheamus right now, it's hard to see The Swiss Cyborg getting any kind of comeuppance as a babyface. The feud seems intent on establishing the young Ridge Holland, and it could pay off.

However, the one-sidedness of the rivalry goes to show that WWE has no interest in pushing Cesaro the way they did earlier this year. For the time being, he will have to compete in the 12-man gauntlet match next week to determine the new Intercontinental title challenger.

#1. Drew McIntyre's filler feud on SmackDown

Drew McIntyre is now without Jeff Hardy on SmackDown, meaning that his feud against Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss is him alone. Perhaps it was more suitable, and he was in one of the more enjoyable segments.

We're certainly not implying that Moss' jokes are enjoyable because they aren't. But what was enjoyable on SmackDown was seeing McIntyre get his big babyface pop. The prop for "Happy Talk" this week was the stolen table from Adam Pearce's office.

For those who forgot, last week on the blue brand, Pearce told The Scottish Warrior that he wasn't allowed to take the sword to the ring. McIntyre simply jammed it into his table, and Corbin and Moss stole that.

They were unable to do so, and Drew McIntyre pulled the sword out, just like a hero from a mythological story. What this realistically presents is a filler feud for McIntyre on SmackDown. WWE is simply dragging it out, presumably to get a Drew McIntyre-Happy Corbin match next year.

Will Drew McIntyre be the one to dethrone Roman Reigns? WWE seems to be keeping the two men as far apart as possible.