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The latest episode of WWE SmackDown was highly entertaining. Several Superstars, who were languishing in the mid-card, seemingly found new direction.
Shinsuke Nakamura accumulated a major win against Jey Uso in the first match of the night. His face turn has been solidified after he used his old entrance theme on the show.
In a tremendous slow-burn angle, Apollo Crews is turning heel. On this week's episode of SmackDown, Crews was seemingly being mentored by Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. Later in the night, he defeated Sami Zayn by adopting underhanded tactics and will challenge Big E for the Intercontinental Championship match next week. Though it's hard to imagine the New Day member dropping the title so soon, the former US Champion can pull off a shocking upset given he's aided by Reigns and Jey Uso.
Rey Mysterio faced off against King Corbin in a match that saw The Lone Wolf pull off a surprisingly dominant victory over the Lucha Libre legend. The ending involved Dominik Mysterio, as Corbin assaulted him to distract Rey and get the win.
In the best match on this week's SmackDown, Cesaro defeated Daniel Bryan in a PPV worthy bout. The two in-ring technicians exchanged a flurry of offense and reversals that excited the viewers.
Cesaro coming on top has given him a lot of momentum going into the Royal Rumble, while Bryan still remains a favorite to win the 30 man over the top Battle Royal, considering the booking patterns.
Kevin Owens returnes to SmackDown as Adam Pearce's replacement at Royal Rumble 2021
In the most shocking albeit a little underwhelming development from the night, Kevin Owens returned to SmackDown as the replacement for Adam Pearce and will face Universal Champion Roman Reigns at Royal Rumble. The WWE Official said that he was "injured" and made KO as his replacement.
The previous week's SmackDown Gauntlet match that saw Pearce coming out on top owing to The Tribal Chief's nefarious actions. Even though Reigns and Owens could produce another classic at the upcoming PPV, KO coming out on top still seems like a distant dream. Given the run Roman Reigns is on at the moment, WWE will not be ready to pull the plug on his Championship reign at the Royal Rumble.
On that note, let's see how Twitter reacted to all the major developments on this week's episode of SmackDown. Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
