7 things WWE got right on Smackdown Live this week(19 February 2019)
The one thing you could always count on after a disappointing episode of Raw is Smackdown Live delivering an absolute entertaining two hours of wrestling, and on this week on Smackdown Live, the blue brand's creative team put on an episode of wrestling that gave the WWE Universe what Raw did not, and that was a spectacle.
The creative team took the duration of Smackdown Live and booked so many fresh matches, advancements in narratives and the main event of Fastlane 2019 all in two hours. It is actually quite impressive. From an NXT TakeOver classic coming to the blue brand to a fan favorite ascending a position most thought WWE would never let that star reach, Smackdown Live was truly phenomenal this week.
And while there were a few mistakes here and there, it was sort of unavoidable when WWE's plans including pushing certain superstars that need to go over other wrestlers fans feel need more momentum than the company's choice. But all in all, this was an edition of Smackdown Live that succeeded on many levels and let us go through what WWE did right on this blockbuster episode.
#7 Setting Up The Deception
The narrative between The Miz and Shane McMahon has been one of the most bizarre angles WWE had produced over the few months, as it all started when Shane McMahon took The Miz's place in the final of the WWE World Cup tournament and won the cup for his brand.
Ever since then WWE has turned Miz into a babyface that is more silly at times than actually admirable, but that is probably due to the Miz being a natural heel more than a babyface.
Moreover, Miz's pairing with Shane McMahon had affected his career ever since it started, as if you look what Miz was doing before this narrative kicked it you would see that the Miz went from a potential WWE Championship shot at WrestleMania to the lower ranks of the card. But the good news is that it seems like WWE is finally going to put an end to this unwanted narrative, as this week on Smackdown Live something interesting occurred.
The Miz came down to the ring to offer a public apology to Shane McMahon after his miscommunication with McMahon led to their demise at the Elimination Chamber event. But instead of playing the blame game, Miz went on to speak about how Shane helped him make his father proud, and that was something The Miz could never be more thankful for.
The Usos then came out and accepted Miz's plea for a rematch for the Smackdown Live Tag Team Championship, and McMahon made the match for Fastlane. Now the most interesting thing about the storyline between Miz and Shane is who's going to turn heel?
The way WWE is booking the Miz, feels like he is the man that is ready become the next top babyface in the company, from his emotional backstory with him wanting to prove himself to his father to the relationship he has worked hard to build up with Shane, Miz is the ideal babyface in today's landscape.
While on the other hand, Shane McMahon is not necessarily hinting towards any sort of heel turn, as of right now he has no real reason to betray the Miz. Maybe one could say that Miz costing Shane the Tag Team Titles warrants a heel turn, but it just isn't strong enough.
Over the next few weeks maybe WWE will expand the depth of this angle and give us some more information, but right now it just seems like WWE painting Miz as the underdog and Shane as the strength of their tag team could be a misdirection. In fact, maybe it could MIz turning heel at Fastlane.
There is so much to consider when analyzing this programme, as the creative team needs to get some credit for actually creating some ambiguity in this narrative, as it was falling for a while now.