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Friday Night SmackDown's Thanksgiving special is in the books and what an action-packed episode it was. From 3 major returns to new alliances and more, the show delivered from start to finish.
Since he is our Universal Champion, the primary focus of the show was Bray Wyatt as he had three different Firefly Fun House segments and ended the show as well. It was a fantastic show from a character-development standpoint and we're glad we can say that because we don't often get to.
It was the perfect example of why a two-hour show is enough to get the job done and even though it was far from perfect, it didn't feel like there was a moment wasted on the show. Although the women's division needs to step up their promo game, we got some new directions with multiple feuds happening.
Here's what WWE subtly told us on the show!
Also read: 5 reasons why Rey Mysterio defeated AJ Styles to win the United States Championship on RAW
#8. A new faction emerges amongst old rivals?
First off, we're happy about the fact that Robert Roode had a great showing against Roman Reigns, even in defeat. He was made to look on the level of The Big Dog and Reigns, who the crowd was the hottest for by far, got the deserved win.
However, what was more interesting was the alliance between King Corbin, Roberto Roode, and Dolph Ziggler. Remember in December 2017 at Clash of Champions when the three of them competed for the United States title? Ziggler won the contest when he was expected to take the pin and abruptly vacated the title two nights later (with no explanation ever given as to why).
However, it seems like we'll be getting a temporary faction between the former rivals. Who would have thought that the three of them would be in a stable together?
#7. Elias' return and character change
Elias is back for the first time since the summer of 2019. It was early Septemeber when he was announced as out of action and he suffered an ankle injury, rendering him unfit to compete at the King of the Ring tournament.
However, he's now back at last and it was in a segment featuring Dana Brooke and Drake Maverick. Maverick held the mistletoe over her head and asked her for a kiss, to which she promptly replied "Eww" (she probably wouldn't have said that to Batista) and asked him about his marriage, to which he said, "it's complicated".
They were interrupted by Elias, who sang and came back, but to Dana Brooke's relief. She seemed happy about it and from the nature of his song, he seems to be a babyface again. This is his second babyface run in WWE, with his first one having ended in a few months.
We hope that this works out well for him, but we imagine he's going to remain a mid-carder. The main event scene is simply too stacked right now and the fact that Strowman can't find a spot makes it less likely for Elias to do so.
#6. Lacey Evans is next in line for a title shot
Lacey Evans has been a babyface for a bit now but hasn't had much screen time for her character to grow and develop. Tonight's main women's segment featured SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks shaming the SmackDown Women's Division for their performance at Survivor Series.
They blamed everyone, of course, except for themselves. Bayley was promptly met with "You tapped out" - factually correct chants. Sasha Banks started ripping apart the division one by one, including the likes of Carmella, Nikki Cross, Dana Brooke and the moment Lacey Evans' name was brought up, she came out.
The Sassy Southern Belle cut a promo that was...less than impressive, to say the least, but it got the crowd going. To her credit, she was met with "Lacey Evans" chants and the crowd was surprisingly hot for her as a babyface.
After smacking Sasha Banks with a Woman's right, it was established that she will be challenging for the title again. It's perhaps the right time to do so as she hasn't been in the title picture for over four months now. She certainly comes as an unexpected title challenger for Bayley.
#5. The rematch with Daniel Bryan and the new championship
This Thanksgiving special was perhaps the most Bray Wyatt-centric show that WWE has ever had. He was featured in 3 different Firefly Fun House segments, first promising a "new face" of the show and not delivering.
What he did, state, however, was the fact that he was interested in having a rematch against Daniel Bryan. It's one of the rare instances where a champion seeks a challenger again despite having a clean pin over them and for The Fiend/Bray Wyatt character, this has a lot more to do than just the championship.
You could even have the same feud without the title and it would be equally, if not more meaningful. But it's a good central feud to have on SmackDown and given that Wyatt is phenomenal and Daniel Bryan is on a whole other level, expect fireworks to happen in this feud from a character development storyline.
Even though Wyatt is the main man, the feud seems to be more about Daniel Bryan and where he's headed, with Wyatt (and The Miz) constantly warning him that he's going to be a changed man if he runs it back again. We have a lot more to say about this so stick around!
#4. Sheamus returns with an old look but a different character
Sheamus is set to return for the first time since WrestleMania 35. The grandest stage of them all was the last place we saw The Celtic Warrior as he tried to compete for the SmackDown Tag Team titles in what would turn out to be The Bar's last match.
He was reportedly concussed after that and has been out action for close to eight full months. There was a promo where he was talking but only his silhouette was shown and when he emerged, it revealed that he has officially returned to his old look for the first time in over 5 years! That's right.
He returned in 2015 after a long injury spell with a brand new look - the mohawk one that he kept for many years. At the time, it was refreshing since fans had never seen that before and he had turned heel, with the new look getting the desired reactions of "You look stupid!". They certainly can't say that anymore because he doesn't look stupid anymore.
He has officially returned and while he has turned heel, his character has a new edge to it. Whether they'll reunite him with Cesaro or not is yet to be seen.
#3. Daniel Bryan and The Miz's hate-love relationship
Daniel Bryan is the most must-see superstar in WWE right now from a storyline perspective (Sorry, Miz!). There's nobody in the company who's in a storyline like he is and SmackDown creative has done the best thing by making him the focal babyface of the show.
Even when he was a heel earlier this year, there was so much brilliance and Kofi Kingston's rise as a babyface would not have been the same without Bryan's masterful heelwork. The feud against The Fiend has also spun-off into a recurring storyline with The Miz, a man who Bryan has a lot of history with.
Not only do they have character consistency since they hate each other as babyfaces, but tonight a new element was added to it. The Miz spoke to Bryan in-depth in the locker room about the dangers of challenging The Fiend again.
As much as he hated to admit it, he said that Bryan was very valuable to SmackDown and he needed to think about that, himself and his family, the latter of which got an angry response from Bryan. The two men are headed for a long-term story here and it's not going to be a generic one. Tune in because this is going to be interesting in the coming months!
#2. Alexa Bliss' babyface return and a possible long-term story
If anyone ever tells you that in-ring performances matter more than character work, show them the reaction tonight when Alexa Bliss returned. The only superstar who the crowd was hotter for was Roman Reigns.
Either way, the context was that Nikki Cross defeated Sonya DeVille in a singles match after being made fun of and as per habit, the team of Fire & Desire began a post-match assault. This prompted the return of Alexa Bliss, who got a massive pop.
She immediately struck Mandy Rose and Sonya DeVille and took them out of commission, reuniting with Cross and re-establishing them as a tag team. They were first drafted to RAW but in a random move, were drafted over to SmackDown.
Either way, Bliss has continued her babyface arc where she last left off before her hiatus and we're happy to see that. It's possible that seeds are being planted for a long-term storyline with Nikki Cross, but given WWE's patience with these things, it's hard to say.
Is it a WrestleMania-worthy match-up?
#1. The hair being ripped off signifies more than we might think
SmackDown ended with the third segment of Firefly Fun House that saw Bray Wyatt supposedly reveal "the new face" of the show. However, that still didn't happen and instead, The Fiend came out from under the ring and dragged Daniel Bryan before suffocating him with the mandible claw.
He then dragged him from underneath and started ripping out bits of hair is what seems to be his beard. We only say beard because of the thickness of the hair and we could see a big appearance change from Daniel Bryan next week.
Although fans seem to be perplexed by what happened, we can tell you that the "ripping of hair" is a lot more than what may appear on the surface. It's likely to signify the coming change that Daniel Bryan's character will undergo.
Never has there been a point in Bryan's career where he was in such crossroads over the "Yes! Movement" and what someone can do to him, even in his brief storyline with The Wyatt family from 2013 to early 2014. This is why his character arc is the most interesting in WWE today and it's must-watch television.
