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WWE put out a rather interesting episode of Friday Night SmackDown this week. The entire episode revolved around The Undertaker and his apparent retirement. As a result, half the episode went in replaying 'The Boneyard' match and with all the tributes from the legends of the past.
Either way, it wasn't a bad episode per se - just not too important in terms of storyline progression. Regardless, there were a few interesting things WWE subtly told us on the show:
#5 A surprising WWE Superstar is challenger for Bayley...but will she do enough?
With Sasha Banks set to challenge Asuka for the RAW Women's Championship at Extreme Rules 2020, it seems clear that the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships won't be defended. While one could argue that it's reason enough to not put the titles on Sasha Banks and Bayley, they seem to be a part of their long-term story.
Either way, Bayley needed a challenger for Extreme Rules 2020 and she got it on SmackDown. There was a Fatal-4-way featuring Lacey Evans, Dana Brooker, Alexa Bliss, and Nikki Cross.
While Bliss or Cross would have been a rather obvious pick, we're glad that WWE decided to go with a more surprising pick in Nikki Cross. Dana Brooke would have been a great opponent too, but the only problem with Cross and Brooke being challengers is that it's painfully obvious they aren't going to win.
This means that Nikki Cross is ultimately serving as a "filler" opponent for Bayley, similar to how Dolph Ziggler is for Drew McIntyre at Extreme Rules 2020.
Either way, she isn't a bad choice as an opponent. She's competed for the NXT Women's Championship on multiple occasions as well.
#4 Braun Strowman bringing a new side to the Swamp fight?
The first thing we have to mention is how great Braun Strowman's promo was on WWE SmackDown. The Monster Among Men's entire aura was his presence and dominance, but it seems like he's another WWE Superstar who has benefited greatly from the empty arena shows - with the promo of the night showing an entirely new side to him.
The content of the promo was great too and he called Bray Wyatt the devil himself and a serpent. All indications were that it's going to be a "Swamp" match and WWE confirmed it on social media.
Given how much WWE has loved to do these kinds of cinematic matches, it seems like this will be the cinematic match of Extreme Rules 2020. The only question is as to whether it'll main event the show.
What was most interesting, however, was how Braun Strowman teased an entirely new character. He ended his promo with a wicked laugh, indicating that something different could be coming. Bray Wyatt's influence seems to have played a greater role on him this time around.
Also, the Swamp Fight is a non-title match - so expect Bray Wyatt to win:
#3 Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura possibly confirm reports
One of The Revival/FTR's biggest criticisms of WWE was the fact that they put little to no effort into the Tag Team divisions - openly stating that the Tag Team titles "mean nothing". Unfortunately, the lack of effort in the tag team division is seen - but more so on RAW than SmackDown.
On RAW, they have just two teams actively competing, with Andrade and Angel Garza now entering the mix for more names. On WWE SmackDown, The New Day, as always, are the central figures while The Miz and John Morrison are the #2 team or the top heel team.
Lucha House Party has somewhat benefited from the lack of names as they're now getting consistent screen-time. The other team on the list should have been The Forgotten Sons, but a controversially-timed tweet by member Jaxson Ryker has affected the push of all three WWE Superstars.
As a result, a few reports stated that Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura have replaced them. Despite losing in their 8-man tag team match, they seem to be the next in line for the titles.
#2 A delay in various other feuds
Now we can only speculate why, but there seems to be a rather unfortunate reason why WWE made the show just one-hour if you discount the replay of The Boneyard match. Unfortunately, that meant a delay in multiple other feuds.
The two most notable names absent were AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan. The former should have ideally played an important part of the show, but we're not sure why he was absent. All we can hope is that he wasn't one among the reported 30+ names that tested positive for COVID-19 in WWE.
Either way, things were put on hold this week and it seems as though the nature of the tapings was limited. On a side note, we're glad to see people in the audience wearing masks.
The timing worked out well for WWE since The Undertaker's retirement meant they could center the show around him and delay other storylines for the time being. We hope that this doesn't affect the Extreme Rules 2020 card too drastically.
#1 Using King Corbin to hit two birds with one stone
All said and done, we quite liked the ending of the episode. What we weren't fans of, however, was WWE repeatedly mentioning Jeff Hardy's past issues. While we thought a feud with Jeff Hardy was what's next for King Corbin, that wasn't the case.
After the Boneyard match aired, Corbin gave a sarcastic clap and brought up The Undertaker's past and his connection with Vince McMahon, saying that he used it to gain favor with the McMahon family (while not outright mentioning their name).
It was interesting because he started trashing The Undertaker and called him "selfish" and accused him of "stealing money from WWE" for decades. He believed that it's not possible to have the kind of longevity that he did without something suspicious behind the scenes.
Either way, Jeff Hardy came out to attack him, and that was the main event of the night. The roster, or whatever was left of it, appeared as well and were at ringside. The show ended with Hardy winning and Kofi Kingston, Matt Riddle, and Braun Strowman all laying the SmackDown on King Corbin. A feel-good ending to WWE SmackDown!
