5 Opportunities WWE missed on SmackDown before Money in the Bank - Surprise return, Swerve for Universal title match? (May 8th, 2020)
The go-home show of SmackDown was a decent one in my opinion. Although it wasn't as tight as the last two iterations of the show, I felt it did a respectable job in building towards Money in the Bank.
We saw a preview of some of the things that could happen this Sunday during tonight's episode of SmackDown. A massive eight-man tag team match featured all the contestants of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship encounter that would take place at MITB. On the other hand, Bray Wyatt finally confronted the Universal Champion Braun Strowman.
While I do believe that WWE Creative is trying its best to put up a power-packed show each week, I still think there are several things that could've been done differently on tonight's SmackDown to make it an even compelling affair. Without further ado, let us look at the opportunities WWE missed on this week's edition of SmackDown.
#5 Suprise return for the main event of SmackDown
Daniel Bryan and Drew Gulak were supposed to face the trio of King Corbin, Cesaro, and Shinsuke Nakamura in a six-man tag team match this week on the Blue brand. Bryan and Gulak were to choose their partner for the match who would eventually turn out to be Otis but I think this window could've been used in a much better way.
I understand that having Otis involved meant that all participants of the Money in the Bank ladder match from SmackDown were involved in a hype segment for the PPV. But did it really do anyone a favor? Does the WWE Universe really care about someone grabbing the briefcase in an empty arena? The idea seems lesser plausible considering just how repetitively this year's Money in the Bank ladder matches have been branded as 'unique'.
Instead, WWE could've used this opportunity to plot a big return on SmackDown. Someone like Elias would've certainly made the headlines had he been revealed as the mystery partner for Bryan and Gulak. Him teaming up with the duo would make perfect sense as well, given that he was laid out by King Corbin himself a few weeks ago on SmackDown.
This would even leave the window open for a potential Elias interference at Money in the Bank as The Drifter would certainly want to punish Corbin for blindsiding him and in effect leaving him out of consideration for even a MITB qualifier.