Real Reason Why Aleister Black & Big E Missed Last Night's WWE SmackDown

PWInsider are reporting that both Aleister Black and Big E were deliberately held off the latest episode of WWE SmackDown by officials.

WWE top brass decided that it'd be best to let the fledgling feud simmer for a week before coming back to it soon. Being fair, there's no real rush here - Black only returned to live action last week (following a handful of flashy new vignettes) and attacked E during a Fatal-4-Way bout for the Intercontinental Title.

The company have bags of time to develop things further.

Kevin Owens has been installed as Apollo Crews' main challenger in the interim. He'll face Crews for the IC strap on next week's show, and Apollo's monstrous bodyguard Commander Azeez will be banned from ringside for the bumper match.

Despite the lack of panic over E's omission on Friday, there is no doubting the fact that this is a minor drop in stature for him. Previously, the New Day man was one of the biggest babyfaces on the blue brand, but he's been slightly de-emphasised since dropping the Intercontinental belt to Crews.

Fingers crossed a hot rivalry with Black revives his fortunes.