10 Things We Learned From WWE SmackDown (April 18)
Large Mahal.
After a week of reflection on the impact of WWE's first ever 'Superstar Shake-up', the prevailing notion seemed to be that the blue brand had faired better than its flagship counterpart.
'The Land of Opportunity' became a brand new home for Raw's once-dominant singles competitors, with Kevin Owens and Charlotte Flair making appearances alongside Sami Zayn, Rusev, The New Day, Jinder Mahal and The Shining Stars as the midcard strugglers searching for salvation.
Propped up by the main roster arrival of Shinsuke Nakamura a week earlier and the surprising retention of AJ Styles, the Tuesday crew look set to gain most of the weekly plaudits in keeping with a holding pattern in place since the early days of the 2016 draft.
However, SmackDown Live!'s Number One Contender now finds working Monday nights, less than two weeks before the blue brand's title will be contested on a Raw pay-per-view. Meanwhile, Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens will fight over the latter's United States Title, with the winner of the Raw brand match earning a permanent spot on the Tuesday roster. Confused yet?
Things should clear up following that show, but in the meantime, SmackDown Live! began working towards its own brand-exclusive pay-per-view Backlash in May with one particularly huge surprise.
With this week's edition marking first integration of the new stars with the pre-existing talent, here are are 10 things we learned from the April 18 edition of WWE SmackDown Live!
10. Only In America
Kevin Owens went all out with his enhanced 'Face of America' character on this week's edition of SmackDown Live!
After his post-'Superstar Shake-up' redebut positioned him above Randy Orton as the brand's top champion with a tweaked look and increased sense of Canadian pride, 'KO' rolled out the 'Face of America' open challenge with a comfortable victory over local jobber Gary Gandy.
Owens was hilarious throughout, performing his own introduction and cutting a bilingual victory promo before taking a seat at the commentary table to watch his next opponent AJ Styles' main event match against Baron Corbin.
The angle is a complete removal from virtually everything he was doing on Raw in 2016, and has almost immediately refreshed the 'Prizefighter' for the wrestling year ahead.
Fittingly, it was John Cena's US Title Open Challenge that allowed Owens to kick the main roster door down back in 2015. His retooling of the gimmick to satisfy his humongous ego is sure to be a weekly highlight on Tuesday nights, and may come full circle when John Cena makes his summer return to the show.