Ever since WWE decided to take SmackDown live, Tuesday nights have been a treat for the fans. The two-hour episodes of SmackDown that are rolled out every week are a complete contrast to what the fans get on Monday Nights. This has given the blue brand a shot in the arm.
The crisp booking and fast storytelling will return this Tuesday night as well and there are some major storylines that need the limelight.
We will be taking another step towards WrestleMania with the show. The confrontation between Shane McMahon and AJ Styles, Randy Orton’s pursuit of the WWE title, the Cena – Miz feud and many other things will be addressed and we will take a closer look at all this in the preview.
5: The cornered champion
The SmackDown Women’s division got some clear direction after a spell of chaos. Naomi relinquishing the title made the fans scratch their heads but when Alexa Bliss was crowned the champion once again, this confusion went with the wind. Due to all the efforts that she has delivered after the brand split, Alexa seems like the perfect name to represent the division at WrestleMania.
Last week, the champ was cornered by three immediate contenders, and her relationship with Mickie James exploded as well. Alexa was transformed into a lone wolf with just one segment and this gives WWE with two options: they can either make her a cunning heel champion or they can let her be the cowardly champion. The path that Alexa takes will be clear after this week’s SmackDown live.
#4 Cena and Nikki on the back foot
John Cena and Nikki Bella teamed up for the first time this past week on SmackDown. They took on James Ellsworth and Carmella in a winning effort but rather than what happened in the match, the fans will remember what went down after the match. Miz and Maryse attacked Cena and Nikki before delivering another good promo.
This was yet another well-planned segment for the storyline, and this has put Cena and Nikki on the back foot. A bounce-back segment is most likely to follow this week around, and the way in which WWE threads the whole thing will decide whether the fans would still be interested in the storyline or not.
#3 The forgotten Hardcore king
One of the major holes in the PG era has been left by the lack of violent matches. While these were a major occurrence in the Attitude Era, WWE has considerably toned down such matches. Dean Ambrose is someone who would’ve flourished in that type of environment.
He was known for pulling off bloody matches during his time in CZW and thanks to his feud with Baron Corbin, WWE has been able to bring back shades of the old Ambrose. Last week’s segment where Ambrose was stuck under a fork indicates that WWE will be booking Ambrose and Corbin in a huge stipulation match at WrestleMania. The only question now would be: How much violence will WWE allow?
#2 Stand against authority
AJ Styles lost to Randy Orton in the number one contender’s match, last week, on SmackDown. The defeat comes in as a very hard blow for the former WWE champion, and his actions against Shane McMahon are completely natural. Styles is not a happy man at the moment and the confrontation that happened between him and Shane will be a talking point this week around.
A match between AJ and Shane at WrestleMania seem like a real possibility, but the problem here is: both Shane and AJ will get babyface reactions. The dynamics are far from perfect for this feud.
Another alternative for WWE is to bring in someone new from NXT to represent Shane at WrestleMania. There are some great potential opponents in NXT for Styles like Shinsuke Nakamura or WWE could even go with someone like Kurt Angle for a big match.
1: Orton wants gold
Randy Orton’s pursuit of the WWE championship got a big boost last week as he defeated AJ Styles to become the new number one contender. The Royal Rumble winner burned the bridge with Bray Wyatt a couple of weeks back and now that he is back on track without any obstacles, WWE can invest heavily in the storyline.
WWE needs to think about building up Bray first, and that can be done by letting Bray have one or two recruits for his Wyatt Family. Realigning Luke Harper would be another option that WWE could pull off.
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