A couple of turns were teased on this week’s eventful episode of WWE SmackDown after Money in the Bank.
The landscape of WWE SmackDown already looks different with Otis holding the Money in the Bank briefcase, but a couple of turns and a new Intercontinental Champion could change things even more on Friday nights.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from this week’s SmackDown.
Naomi is probably turning heel
Naomi suffered a loss to Dana Brooke on Friday night, as Brooke hit her with a surprise roll-up for a quick victory. In most cases, fans would be livid with Naomi losing yet another match to Brooke, especially in his manner. But many fans are intrigued to see if Naomi will turn heel for the first time in a few years, since there’s a belief that a heel Naomi is necessary for her to win a third WWE SmackDown Women’s Title and receive serious booking from the company.
It’s still frustrating looking back at Naomi’s return at the Royal Rumble. She literally went viral and stole the show, yet WWE still didn’t do anything of note with her, beyond having her face Bayley in Saudi Arabia.
Brooke is probably being built up for Bayley at Backlash, which will lead to mixed reactions. However, it makes sense for Brooke to have a title opportunity after being unable to compete in the multi-women’s title match at WrestleMania 36.
The more meaningful story here, though, is Naomi. WWE teased a heel turn with her reaction to the shocking loss, but something tangible needs to come from this result.
Sasha Banks is definitely turning face
Charlotte Flair showed up on WWE SmackDown, but she wasn’t there to have a match. She was interrupted by Sasha Banks and Bayley, and what we got out of the “three Horsewomen” reunion was far better than a title vs. title match between all-too-familiar foes.
No, we got Charlotte stirring the pot, which is the literal phrase WWE used to title the video of the segment they uploaded to their YouTube channel. (And by the way, the video already has nearly 500,000 views!)
Charlotte made some great points. She wondered why Sasha Banks, as ambitious and successful as The Boss is, would willingly relegate herself to a sidekick role to a champion who can barely squeak by her title defenses. The Queen played into Sasha’s ego and her quiet rivalry with Bayley, even poking strongly by wondering why Sasha lets Bayley speak for her. As if on cue, Bayley interrupted before Sasha could even get a word in.
We are one thousand percent getting Sasha vs. Bayley at some point in the near future for the SmackDown Women’s Title. And in this feud, Banks is going to be the babyface. When she steps out of Bayley’s shadow as champion and goes after the title herself, fans are going to be fully behind her after everything Bayley has done as a “Role Model”. Sasha has the sympathy, as her facial expressions and Charlotte’s promo indicated.
Mandy Rose is the one behind a cash-in
Mandy Rose didn’t compete in the Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match and is embroiled in one of WWE SmackDown’s biggest feuds against Sonya Deville, but she can still have a major influence on Otis’ cash-in.
Look no further than what Rose did without Otis’ knowledge on the May 15 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. She was the one who suggested Otis team up with Braun Strowman to face The Miz and John Morrison in a tag team match later that night. Otis was having a difficult time finding a partner, and Mandy could have suggested just about anyone. Jeff Hardy. Big E. Former WWE Champion Kofi Kingston.
But she suggested Braun Strowman. On the surface, it would be unorthodox for a babyface to pick the Universal Champion when they are holding the Money in the Bank briefcase, since that may not lead to the most trusting dynamic in a tag match. Otis was oblivious to this, but Braun wasn’t. And neither was Mandy. She specifically suggested Braun for this reason, and then came out and the end of their tag match to tease a distraction, making Braun sweat a little bit.
Rose did all of this on purpose. She is going to be the one trying to get Otis to cash in on Strowman or whoever the next Universal Champion is. But she isn’t just doing this out of ambition; I believe she genuinely wants Otis to be champion but is worried he’s too nice to truly use the opportunistic powers of the briefcase.
Sonya Deville is cutting the best promos
We have to gush about Sonya Deville every week, because she feels like the top performer on WWE SmackDown right now. There are plenty of wrestlers producing great work on a week-to-week basis, such as rival Mandy Rose and the usual MVPs in the Boss’N’Hug Connection, but Deville is on another level right now.
Her promo on Mandy Rose this week was simply sensational. The way Deville looks at the camera is the way all the best, most intense talkers do it. Deville is in that category of performer right now, because nobody on Friday Night SmackDown is cutting promos quite like her. Hell, I would even put her promo work over what Drew McIntyre is doing as the WWE Champion on Raw, and he’s been absolutely incredible these past few weeks.
Deville destroyed Mandy Rose in her promo, of course, and she also destroyed her assistant Dolph Ziggler. You could see whenever Ziggler was trying to talk or get closer to Deville, she would shut him down with body language alone.
Whichever room Deville steps into or in whichever segment she partakes in, the former NXT star makes it clear that she is the one in charge. Deville has a commanding presence, piercing delivery, and, as she points out, no shortage of charisma.
Daniel Bryan is the clear favorite
As you would expect, the first round match of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament between Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak was next-level stuff. It’s hard to see any early-round matchup surpassing the level of technical expertise we saw in the ring between Gulak and Bryan, whose chemistry is up there with anyone in the SmackDown Men’s Division right now.
Bryan won the match and cut an excellent promo with Renee Young interviewing, speaking about how he wants to make the IC Title the biggest title on the show. But remember when The Miz increased the prestige of the title but did so as a cowardly champion? Bryan kind of hearkened back to the whole “make it prestigious” line but added that he wants to defend the title every night against anyone.
There isn’t a wrestler in the tournament who could do more for the IC Title than Bryan, who brought up he had to relinquish the championship when he retired. This title means everything to Bryan, in the same way that wrestling means everything to him. Because this title, as Corey Graves pointed out on commentary, carries the respect of being a workhorse and the best pure wrestler in the company. Bryan is that guy, and WWE wants you to remember that.