Shotzi and Adam Pearce Heel Turns Spice Things Up and More WWE SmackDown Fallout

With the draft now in full effect, WWE used this week's show to highlight some of the talents who will help carry the blue brand for the next year.

Shotzi inserted herself into the conversation for a title shot during an argument between Charlotte and Sasha Banks, and she ended up earning herself a match with The Queen in the process.

Following his brutal assault at the hands of Brock Lesnar last week, Adam Pearce fined The Beast $1 million in addition to the suspension that was already in place. 

Naomi and Sonya Deville continued their feud when The Queen of Glow battled Shayna Baszler, and The Usos faced The New Day in a non-title match to close out the show.

Let's take a look at the biggest moments from Friday. 

SmackDown opened with Charlotte giving a promo about how she was going to rule over SmackDown now that she had arrived on the blue brand. It was the usual song and dance we always hear after the draft.

She was soon joined by Banks and Shotzi, which led to the tank enthusiast taking on The Queen in the first match of the night.

The two had a fun, competitive exchange that made Shotzi look like a real contender instead of the rookie Charlotte attempted to make her into. The Boss cheered Shotzi on from ringside as she watched her bring The Queen close to defeat several times.

Charlotte ended up getting the win, and after it was over, Shotzi blamed Banks for the loss and brutally attacked her in the ring.

The draft changed up the women's division for both shows, and it looks like management wants to build some new stars after relying on the same handful of faces for the past few years to run the title scene.

Turning Shotzi heel is a weird decision, especially since it was clear the crowd was into her during this bout. Then again, we all thought the same thing when Bayley turned heel, and she became one of the best parts of SmackDown, so let's see what happens.

Banks is an excellent choice to be Shotzi's first rival in the singles division. She can help establish the green-haired grappler as someone to watch in 2022. It wouldn't be shocking to see them in the ring together as early as next week. 

Last week, Lesnar attacked Pearce and left him laying in the middle of the ring after two F-5s. This week, the WWE general manager gave his response.

Pearce said The Beast's actions were inexcusable and fined him $1 million for his actions. A smiling Paul Heyman watched the whole thing from a monitor in the back.

Not only does it looks like WWE has something planned for Lesnar, but the speech Pearce gave might have indicated a possible heel turn for the authority figure.

He called himself the heart of WWE's corporate machine. That's not the kind of thing a babyface Pearce would say, or any babyface for that matter.

It's been a few years since WWE had a villainous authority figure, but in the past couple of months, we have seen Pearce and Deville make some questionable decisions. If they both make a full heel turn, Raw and SmackDown could be a very different place for the babyfaces of WWE moving forward.

Naomi already knows what happens when you get on management's bad side. It's only a matter of time before others experience Pearce and Deville's wrath.

As for Lesnar, he is going to be treated like a hero when he makes his return to F-5 Pearce out of his pants again.

Speaking of Deville, she used her position of power to put Naomi in a bout against Baszler after last week's handicap match featuring both MMA fighters against Naomi.

Megan Morant interviewed Deville backstage and asked if she was stacking the odds against Naomi, but she said she is just an official trying to do her job.

When no ref showed up to officiate the match, Deville decided to do the task herself. As soon as Baszler had Naomi's shoulders on the mat, Deville made a quick count to end the match.

The Queen of Spades choked Naomi out after she got in Deville's face. While it's great to see The Queen of Glow getting so much screen time lately, it feels like WWE is dragging its feet with this feud.

This is clearly leading to a match between Naomi and Deville at some point, but if WWE waits too much longer, the fans won't care anymore. If it doesn't happen at Survivor Series, it needs to happen beforehand.

After being crowned the new King of the Ring last week, Woods returned for another promo alongside  Kingston, who Woods named The Hand of the King.

As they did their usual thing to hype up the crowd, The Usos came out to mock them for dressing in costumes before it's even Halloween. The members of The New Day were not amused.

Woods threw down a challenge for the SmackDown tag titles, but the match was booked without the belts on the line.

As usual, these two teams killed it. The Usos and New Day have fought so many times that they know each other as well as they know themselves. They are not capable of phoning it in at this point.

Woods and Kingston won, which means WWE is setting them up for a future shot at the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. When anyone beats a champion in WWE, they almost always get a title shot afterward.

We can expect these two duos to put on a couple more classics during this feud, and when it's all said and done, we might just have new champs.