5 things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown: Title change to possibly happen next week, Big sign that Matt Riddle is set for a huge push (July 3rd, 2020)
Friday Night SmackDown is in the books! Welcome to this week's edition of things WWE subtly told us on SmackDown! It was a good episode but we weren't too big on the lack of overall storyline progression. There were surprisingly few segments and matches as a whole - thanks to the fact that the opening match took a large chunk of the time.
Either way, WWE's build to Extreme Rules: The Horror Show continued and we were a bit disappointed to not have any Braun Strowman-Bray Wyatt segment other than a preview.
We'd imagine that if the PPV is themed around the Swamp match, more effort should be put into building it. Either way, here are a few subtle things hinted at on SmackDown:
#5 A possible change in the SmackDown Tag Team title scene next week?
For some reason, WWE often avoids putting Tag Team Championship matches on PPVs. That's been the case lately at least. Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro are a team that's replaced The Forgotten Sons - who were feuding with The New Day early on when they debuted on SmackDown.
Unfortunately, "that" tweet from Jaxson Ryker turned out to be a possible death sentence for The Forgotten Sons, and Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake have been directly impacted by it as well.
Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro are a bit of a "thrown together" team, but they still have good chemistry and are two big names who can challenge for the SmackDown Tag Team titles. They've had The New Day's number recently and on the latest episode of SmackDown, Shinsuke Nakamura took on Kofi Kingston in a match we felt was good enough for a PPV.
As expected, the Japanese former NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kofi Kingston and just like that, a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match has been secured for next week.
While we'd rather have seen it at Extreme Rules: The Horror Show (since it would be a great PPV match featuring four elite athletes), it seems as though WWE wants to have the match on SmackDown.
We fully expect a title change next week. The SmackDown Tag Team scene hasn't been very strong despite SmackDown having stronger tag teams overall. The New Day is and always have been great Champions, but it seems like they're just placeholders right now with no real direction.
We don't blame WWE for putting the title on them, but a change in scenario is needed for the SmackDown Tag Team division.