WWE SmackDown 5 Takeaways: Mandy Rose is about to make a statement

Bray Wyatt isn’t finished with you, Braun

Turning Braun Strowman’s catchphrase on its head, Bray Wyatt isn’t done with making Strowman’s life a living nightmare. I’m not sure if the throwback to his “Hawaiian Shirt” heel persona in the early Wyatt Family days – when Strowman was his young “muscle” in the stable – is another ploy to recruit him or if it’s a divergent path meant to mentally torture Wyatt in a completely different way.

Whatever the case, Wyatt is clearly out for revenge after his humiliating loss to Strowman in a Universal Title match at Money in the Bank. And what made the loss so humiliating was this: Strowman beat Wyatt at his own mindgames.

Bayley sells out Sasha again

Bayley really has to keep forcing herself as the person in charge of the friendship between herself and Sasha Banks, because she stops at nothing to undermine the autonomy of her tag team partner. Once again, Bayley threw Sasha into a match that she wasn’t prepared for, forcing Sasha to suddenly compete against a fired-up Nikki Cross after already being beaten down and blindsided by the former Sanity leader. (Yes, she was the leader to me, damn it!)

But despite not being prepared and clearly miffed at Bayley abusing her authority as WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion in their uneven, fracturing friendship, Sasha Banks won. And she did so in incredible fashion, putting on yet another quality television match.

With all sorts of challengers for the Women’s Tag Titles emerging on all three WWE brands, Sasha and Bayley’s longtime friendship is being tested even more profoundly.