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From Bayley explaining her actions against Sasha Banks to an entertaining edition of Bray Wyatt's Firefly Fun House, this week's edition of WWE SmackDown featured many contrasting moments.
The Blue brand has been delivering solid and newsworthy episodes in recent memory and last night's episode was no exception. The presentation of SmackDown is far more superior than that of RAW at the moment, and big stars like Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt have given fans a reason to tune in on Friday nights.
Which show was better this week, RAW or SmackDown? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Here are the five biggest news stories from this week's episode of WWE SmackDown (September 11, 2020).
#5: The Street Profits distracted Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura from the Champions Lounge and cost them an important match
Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura and The Street Profits have been poking their heads in each other's business on both WWE brands. On this week's edition of WWE SmackDown, Cesaro and Nakamura faced The Lucha House Party in tag team action.
Before the match itself, The Street Profits had crashed Cesaro and Nakamura's Champions Lounge. And this would later cost the SmackDown Tag Team Champions in the form of a mid-match distraction when both Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford appeared on the TitanTron and were seen hosting a party backstage.
Lucha House Party now hold a win over Cesaro and Nakamura, but a Champion vs. Champion match on next week's WWE RAW is supposed to be the endgame here. As many have speculated, the tag team titles from both brands could be unified as a result of this feud.
That would undoubtedly be the most desirable outcome; otherwise, hosting an inter-brand feud shows how the state of the tag team division on both brands isn't exactly the best part about RAW and SmackDown right now.
#4: Jeff Hardy's triple threat arc on SmackDown reminded fans of a recent incident at AEW All Out
Jeff Hardy was scheduled to defend his Intercontinental Title against AJ Styles on this week's edition of WWE SmackDown.
Of course, Sami Zayn wasn't too happy about this at all. He tried to stop this "injustice" at the beginning of the match, but Adam Pearce arrived at the scene to escort him backstage.
However, Styles vs Hardy didn't end in a definitive way, as Zayn came back and attacked both men to cause a DQ. The most interesting aspect of these events concern Jeff Hardy, who limped and collapsed on the ramp as a result of Zayn's actions.
Jeff's brother, Matt Hardy momentarily collapsed backstage in a real incident at this year's AEW All Out event, and one has to wonder if WWE's intentions were to capitalize on this highly publicised moment on this week's WWE SmackDown.
At Clash of Champions, Jeff Hardy will probably defend his Intercontinental Title against both Sami Zayn and AJ Styles to settle this Triple Threat feud for the time being.
#3: Bayley explained her actions against Sasha Banks as a new number one contender was determined for the SmackDown Women's Title
The Golden Role Models broke up during the previous episode, and Bayley explained why she brutalized Sasha Banks on this week's edition of WWE SmackDown. Both Sasha and Bayley were using each other under the guise of an actual friendship, which comes off as no surprise since most WWE fans suspected that to be the case all along.
Bayley had no use for her former best-friend when Sasha lost all of her titles recently. In that case, The Boss was nothing but dead-weight attached to the current SmackDown Women's Champion.
Later, Tamina, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss faced each other in a Fatal 4-Way match to determine the number one contender for Bayley's Championship gold.
Bayley attacked Nikki Cross with a steel chair on her way out, so that acted as one of the two major roadblocks for Cross when it came to winning the bout. The other roadblock concerned Alexa Bliss, who seemed just fine throughout most of this match, but towards the end, she entered into a trance-like state and put Cross down with a well-executed Sister Abigail's Kiss, only to walk away from the bout.
Nikki Cross eventually managed to secure a title match at Clash of Champions 2020.
The equation between Cross and Bliss remains complicated but not completely hopeless, as the former explained in a backstage interview after the show. Alexa Bliss is a great actor and her storyline with The Fiend keeps getting even more intriguing each week.
#2: Paul Heyman's "Wobbly Walrus" is the new member of Bray Wyatt's Firefly Fun House
WWE fans got to witness one of the best Firefly Fun House episodes of all time this week, as "Wobbly Walrus" was introduced to Bray Wyatt's pack of puppets in the Firefly Fun House on SmackDown.
Originally, Bray Wyatt wanted to introduce a parrot-like puppet. But in a moment of dark comedy, it was revealed that the puppet "suffocated" inside the box only because Wyatt forgot to put some air holes in it.
The infamous Vince McMahon puppet arrived and sorted things out for Bray by introducing Wobbly Walrus, a new Firefly Fun House figure that symbolizes Paul Heyman.
There were some apparent undertones related to Paul Heyman's alliance with Roman Reigns underneath all the comical shenanigans. Wyatt also revealed that it's okay if The Fiend's Universal Title belongs to someone else, and he also hinted towards a future clash between Roman Reigns and The Fiend.
The Fiend never forgets and a future match against The Tribal Chief will be inevitable. But for now, both Superstars are engaged in separate storylines. If Bray Wyatt's arc with Alexa Bliss also results in some huge plot developments, then the future of WWE SmackDown will be interesting, to say the least.
#1: Roman Reigns teamed-up with Jey Uso to defeat King Corbin and Sheamus in the main event
In WWE, they say that the little moments matter as much as the big ones. This week's WWE SmackDown was all about that premise. Not only was Alexa Bliss and Bray Wyatt's plot riddled with the same ideology, but Roman Reigns pushed the scales further building up to his match against Jey Uso at Clash of Champions.
When King Corbin and Sheamus interrupted Roman Reigns and Jey Uso's dialogue at the beginning of the show, Uso vowed to team up with his cousin to beat up both of them later in the night.
This is a different and smarter version of Roman Reigns, and falling for other heel talent's cheap bait is no longer how he wants to operate. But Jey Uso is still that kind of babyface, which is why Roman Reigns found himself in an unnecessary tag team main event on this week's WWE SmackDown.
Clearly, The Tribal Chief was disinterested in this fight, as Jey Uso had to battle Corbin and Sheamus on his own for the most part. It was only a few moments later when Reigns showed up and hit a spear to pick up the win.
Reigns took the smarter path with the least amount of effort involved. And at the end of the episode, it became apparent that he may turn on his own cousin if Jey Uso turns out to be an overwhelming distraction to his Universal Title reign.
