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Welcome to a heavy edition of things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown! It was an intense episode with a lot of new directions revealed. We won't go too long in the introduction as always, but we will mention that there was a tease of a "mystery woman" on SmackDown.
Who it is, we can't be sure, but we'll leave it to you to speculate. With that said, let's jump right into what WWE subtly told us on SmackDown!
#6 A dream triple threat is set up on SmackDown
We love this feud! The Intercontinental Champion Jeff Hardy has a big problem on SmackDown. Firstly, his title celebrations last week on SmackDown were cut short by the returning Sami Zayn - who came out with his own Intercontinental Championship that he won before WrestleMania 36 and laid claim to be the "true" Intercontinental Champion.
He certainly has a legitimate claim for it as he never lost the title. However, he did voluntarily decide to take time away in the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless, in that time, the title was vacated and AJ Styles returned to SmackDown from RAW, won a tournament and defeated Daniel Bryan to become the Intercontinental Champion.
Jeff Hardy won it from him before SummerSlam 2020 on SmackDown and he is the legitimate Champion. However, it's double-trouble for the WWE legend as he now has to deal with both Sami Zayn and AJ Styles. A triple threat direction is what seems to be planned for the Intercontinental title and what better way to elevate it than by having three major stars competing for it?
With that said, it's also likely going to lead to another title change. The Intercontinental Championship has changed hands quite frequently since Shinsuke Nakamura lost it earlier this year and that trend will likely continue at Clash of Champions, so this might just be a spoiler for the PPV.
#5 The end of the Golden Role Models on SmackDown
It was inevitable, but it seems to have either happened far later on SmackDown than it should have or even sooner, some would argue. Either way, there seems to be a legitimate reason for it.
Sasha Banks and Bayley had a Women's Tag Team title rematch on SmackDown in what was advertised as perhaps the biggest and most important tag team title match in the history of the Blue brand.
Sasha Banks and Bayley have not only been the two central figures of SmackDown's Women's division, but they've dominated both RAW and SmackDown in the summer of 2020.
It was an unforgettable run that has now come to an end. They have now spent over a year together and for a long time, we've been getting teases of dissent and a possible break-up.
Ultimately, it was just a matter of when and not if they would break-up on SmackDown and the answer was September 4th, 2020. After they lost the match and Sasha Banks was injured, she refused help and Bayley ended up turning on her and brutally assaulting her on SmackDown.
This wasn't just a set up for a match - it was a way to seemingly write off Sasha Banks from WWE programming till at least late 2020 or 2021. We anticipate that the five-time Women's Champion won't be back for a while - perhaps not until the crowds return.
#4 WWE finally gives Otis a story on SmackDown
Turns out SmackDown star Otis is smarter than we give him credit for while John Morrison - not so much. WWE seemed to begin a light storyline with Otis - the Money in the Bank 2020 winner who has been virtually absent since winning the briefcase.
If WWE intended to push Otis as a serious star on SmackDown and a future World champion, some basic television time is what he needs. He finally got that alongside Tucker on SmackDown as Heavy Machinery took on The Miz and John Morrison.
While Heavy Machinery won with relative ease in the first match on SmackDown, John Morrison stole Otis' Money in the Bank briefcase, seemingly ignorant of the fact that having possession of the briefcase doesn't actually make him Mr. Money in the Bank.
The Miz, who is a former MITB winner and SmackDown Tag Team Champion reminded him of that and it was revealed that Otis put the contract inside his MITB lunchbox. What was in the briefcase? John Morrison opened it and found what looked like a ham sandwich. He was even about to eat it before the Miz told him not to.
Atleast we get a storyline with Otis on SmackDown, so that's a start.
#3 Big E continues his storyline with Sheamus on SmackDown
Big E was scheduled for the Fatal-4-Way main event on SmackDown to determine Roman Reigns' Clash of Champions opponent. Big E was ready to welcome Xavier Woods back with a cake and while Woods was close to arriving, Sheamus attacked him and then hit the White Noise onto the front of a car.
As a result, Big E was removed from the SmackDown main event. We'll be the first to admit that we thought Big E was legitimately going to win the main event and challenge Roman Reigns at Clash of Champions.
However, WWE decided to seemingly protect him while continuing his storyline against Sheamus. Sheamus welcomed Jeff Hardy back to SmackDown and he's now going to give Big E a warm welcome in his singles run.
We're happy that Big E is finally in a legitimate feud against a former World Champion and since he's most likely to win and this was a smart way of going about it on SmackDown.
#2 The Firefly Fun House's new guest and Alexa Bliss - A major change is coming to SmackDown
This is one of the things that we're most excited about on SmackDown. We've known that Alexa Bliss has been having character alterations for a few weeks now, but it seems like things are all but confirmed
Bray Wyatt had an extremely short version of Firefly Fun House on SmackDown, where he revealed that there was a new member coming next week.
Immediately after that, the camera cuts to backstage on SmackDown, where Nikki Cross was seem looking concerned about what she just saw.
Alexa Bliss immediately came and seemed to try to reconcile with her - all while the Ramblin' Rabbit was seen in the background. We don't need to go deep into why we think Alexa Bliss is the new member of the Firefly Fun House.
All we can say is that Alexa Bliss could be entering the most exciting chapter of her career so far and an alliance with Bray Wyatt/The Fiend seems to be inevitable.
#1 Jey Uso as Roman Reigns' next feud on SmackDown - Family vs family?
SmackDown just got a whole lot more interesting. We've seen Roman Reigns and Jey Uso stand side-by-side in the ring, but at Clash of Champions 2020, we will see them on the opposite sides as Jey Uso gets his first shot in a singles match for a World title.
It came about when Adam Pearce was looking for a replacement for Big E. Paul Heyman called him in and gave him an interesting idea and surely enough - Jey Uso was the replacement.
King Corbin seemed furious over the nepotism and felt that Jey Uso was in the match only because he is Roman Reigns' cousin. Jey Uso defeated three other men in the SmackDown main event to earn a Universal title shot at Clash of Champions 2020.
This is going to be an interesting one. Paul Heyman's promo on SmackDown at the start was all about Roman Reigns representing his family and bloodline and that was the theme of the show as the Universal Champion crossed paths with The Big Dog on numerous occasions.
It seems to be a way for WWE to slowly inculcate a heel Roman Reigns into programming. Not only will he beat Jey Uso at Clash of Champions, but he may very well destroy him to sever the family ties for good.
