WWE SmackDown: 5 Talking Points to Come from This Week's Show

Anticipation was high ahead of Friday Night SmackDown this week after excellent showings at both Raw and Payback just a few nights ago.

And through a combination of solid mic work, exciting in-ring action and, of course, some intriguing storyline developments, the company’s Blue Brand managed to deliver a very well-balanced show that was certainly worth the watch.

Three newly crowned champions were in one-on-one action, while the ever-improving Daniel Bryan main-evented the show against his former partner Randy Orton.

With these matches, as well as others, being taken into consideration, we identify and analyse five of the most prominent talking points to emanate from Friday Night SmackDown this week.

Axel Successful in First Defence

In his first official defence of his newly acquired Intercontinental Championship, Curtis Axel picked up a decent win over Wade Barrett in the show’s opening bout.

It was arguably the aftermath of the contest that garnered the most attention, though, as a staredown between the victor and The Miz seemed to suggest a potential feud between the two.

With Barrett unsuccessful in his rematch for the strap, expect the Englishman to fall by the wayside as Axel and Miz look to settle their score from Payback over the coming weeks.

An interesting side note in my eyes, though, was the use of Axel’s swinging neckbreaker as a finisher.

Along with the Guillotine DDT and of course the Perfect-Plex, Axel has now picked up separate victories with three different finishing manoeuvres.

A move-set of such depth is a welcomed addition to the current roster, and for that reason alone, I’m keen to see more of the new Intercontinental champion.

Divas' Attention Continues

It was reported this week that the WWE is allegedly looking to have their Divas rival TNA’s knockout division—a pretty daunting task, to say the least.

But nonetheless, the company’s Divas remained firmly in the limelight on SmackDown this week, first with AJ defeating Natalya and then Kaitlyn commencing a backstage brawl with Aksana after some choice words from the latter.

Sure, it may not be the kind of standard that we have seen before in the WWE, but it’s certainly encouraging to see such time and effort being invested in the female division.

After an impressive contest at Payback and a decent segment on Raw, SmackDown seemed to confirm that the Divas Championship is once again being taken seriously by the WWE writers.

Let’s hope they can keep up the good work.

Chris Jericho Faces Alberto Del Rio

Not only was this perhaps the best match of the show, there were a couple of interesting sub-plots developed here during the aftermath of Jericho’s match with Del Rio.

The segment ended with Ziggler receiving yet another kick to the head from Del Rio, proving that the WWE are persisting with Del Rio’s heel turn and Ziggler’s face push. Sympathy may not be the optimal method of creating a babyface, but it seems to be working fairly well in this case.

As well as this, though, we also saw some added involvement from Jericho.

Y2J hit Ziggler with the Codebreaker, which of course enabled Del Rio to capitalize and further beat down the former champion.

Could this hostility from Jericho see him edge into the World Heavyweight title scene?

It’s improbable but certainly not impossible.

Jericho’s current run with the company will end in August, giving him just enough time for one more main event run.

Could this be the start of that very run? Or am I perhaps reading too much into Jericho’s actions on SmackDown?

The Shield Jumps Christian

Having finally returned on Raw this past week, Christian was once again in action on SmackDown—this time against Drew McIntyre of 3MB.

Captain Charisma looked as fresh as ever and picked up a convincing victory, but the biggest talking point here was the arrival of The Shield after the match.

The trio quickly entered the ring and set their sights on Christian, laying him out with their patented triple powerbomb.

Of course, the most likely reason for this is that Christian could soon be feuding with Dean Ambrose for the US title. It will be interesting to see how the members of The Shield explain their attack, but should the feud eventually come to fruition, expect some highly entertaining matches between these two.

A surprising development, perhaps, but in my mind, a welcomed one nonetheless.

Daniel Bryan No Longer the Weak Link?

After it became apparent that the WWE is indeed pushing ahead with Bryan’s “weak link” storyline, I was genuinely worried that this could be the start of a prolonged losing streak for the former World champion.

But after another impressive match with Randy Orton, Bryan picked up the victory he desired, albeit by count-out rather than pinfall or submission.

After the match, though, he went on to voice his displeasure at winning merely by count-out, and thus this feud may well be set to continue in some capacity.

The talk is that Bryan could win the Money in the Bank briefcase next month, though, so this begs the question of how long he will continue to battle Orton in meantime. Perhaps both competitors will be involved in the MITB ladder match itself?

But either way, surely the WWE must capitalize on the former ROH star’s immense popularity sooner rather than later? A WWE title run would be the perfect way to cap off an incredible couple of years for the World’s Toughest Vegan.

Conclusion

With Money in the Bank just a few weeks away, we’re already seeing the foundations laid for a number of potential showdowns.

Axel and Miz seem destined to battle for the IC title, while events on SmackDown suggest that Christian and Ambrose could go toe-to-toe for the U.S. Championship.

The World title picture and of course the MITB ladder matches themselves appear less predictable at present, but nonetheless, the show already looks set to have a pretty impressive card.

To conclude: It was another solid showing from SmackDown in what has been a great week in the world of the WWE.

Please feel free to comment below with your thoughts on the article, the talking points discussed as well as any other issues to come from Friday Night SmackDown this week.