Kevin Owens' Heel Turn Ignites Title Picture and More WWE SmackDown Fallout

A betrayal, the reemergence of a beloved character and the introduction of a mysterious one highlighted an episode of SmackDown Live that gave fans a taste of what they can expect from the reinvigorated brand in the weeks and months to come.

Kevin Owens showed his true colors, lashing out at Kofi Kingston and setting those two on course for a WWE Championship match, while Bayley, even in losing to Charlotte Flair, reminded fans of why her character was so great in the first place.

Then there was Aleister Black, whose simple promo sparked interest and created genuine intrigue as to where WWE Creative is taking his character.

Dive deeper into those three topics as they are the biggest takeaways from the April 23 episode of SmackDown Live.

Kevin Owens' Heel Turn Returns to Seriousness, Reignites WWE Title Picture

The feel-good story of Kofi Kingston emerging from midcard obscurity, riding a wave of fandom and capturing the WWE Championship to an earth-shaking reaction at WrestleMania 35 was one of the bright spots from the first quarter of 2019.

Tuesday night, the fairy tale gave way to a crushing reality when Kevin Owens turned on Kingston at the conclusion of the main event. 

The Prizefighter unleashed months of frustration on Kingston and ended by holding the WWE Championship in his hands and vowing to end the fun and take it away.

There will be some who argue the betrayal was rushed, mostly because they were enjoying Owens as a babyface, and rightfully so. He was entertaining in that role and completely different than the KO we had become accustomed to over the years. 

But this makes sense.

Owens returned to fanfare and received a WWE Championship match—only to have Ali entered into the mix. He never had another chance to wrest the gold away from Daniel Bryan; instead he was forced to watch from the sidelines as KofiMania took over.

Left off the WrestleMania card, Owens became more and more frustrated and finally lashed out on the man he holds responsible for his career frustrations of late. Now, they are on a collision course, presumably destined to compete against each other for wrestling's top prize at Money in the Bank on May 19.

That is storytelling, even if it was more of the abridged version than the epic.

Bayley Rediscovers Her Intestinal Fortitude

For the first two years of her main roster career, the Bayley character was a whimpering shell of its former self.

The NXT export was made fun of, poked and prodded at by heels, and mocked by even her on-screen best friend, Sasha Banks. Throw in some horribly scripted anger management skits and you have a character done so terribly by the creative team that lesser performers would have been dead in the water a long time ago.

A jump to SmackDown, though, and a reemergence as a singles contender created an opportunity for Bayley to remind everyone of the great in-ring performer and the compelling character she once was, as evidenced by her promo Tuesday.

Fiery, she voiced her desire to challenge for the SmackDown Women's Championship, reminding Becky Lynch that she has never beaten her. She stood up to the almighty Charlotte Flair and was passionate and intense in doing so.

This was not the meek, smiley wrestler fans had grown tired of on Raw. This was the lifelong wrestling fan pushed to her limits by a hostile crowd last week and an unquenched thirst for championship gold.

It was the Bayley we loved.

It was the Bayley we deserved.

It was the Bayley she deserved.

The match with Flair was equally as good and has set Bayley up to be a major player in the SmackDown women's division for the foreseeable future, even in defeat.

Enigmatic Aleister Black Promo Sets Him Up for Monster Heel Run...If Necessary

Aleister Black sat in front of a camera Tuesday and cut an enigmatic promo that ended with him stating, "I'm sure that the world you grew up in will have me...condemned." It was a not-so-subtle tease at his darker side—one we never really got to see in NXT nor his first few months on the main roster.

It would be a welcome addition to the character, which has always pointed at an almost occult feel but was never really explored beyond the surface.

An extraordinary performer with the ability to be the first real persona of the type to strike a nerve with fans since The Undertaker, Black is a star in the making. Introducing new layers to his character and letting the WWE Universe sink its teeth into it is the surest way to guarantee him success.

Letting Black be himself doesn't hurt too badly, either.