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Last night's SmackDown was unfortunately a mediocre showing. Though WWE has attempted to promote the blue brand as the premier program in the company following the move to FOX, Raw has been far and away the stronger of the two main roster brands after October's draft.
For some reason, WWE just has trouble producing two strong brands at the same time, and has all the way had the same issue since the first brand extension began in 2002.
With the Royal Rumble just a little over a week away, who got the most and least out of last night's SmackDown? Let's take a look.
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Winner: Daniel Bryan
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Daniel Bryan has no chance of actually winning the title at the Royal Rumble and his WrestleMania match is in doubt, but last night saw him reunite with Kane and spruce up the feud with the Fiend. While the Big Red Machine will enter the Royal Rumble match, Bryan challenged the Fiend to a strap match.
Even after all this time, Team Hell No is still an entertaining act, and while Kane won't be around for long, perhaps the two will have a fun match at WrestleMania of some kind? Either way, Daniel Bryan has more going for him than he did last week.
Winner: John Morrison
John Morrison returned to a WWE ring last night when he did battle with Big E. Morrison went over cleanly, looking like he hasn't skipped a beat since the last time we saw him under the WWE umbrella.
This will certainly lead to a tag team match between the two with the titles on the line at the Royal Rumble. Perhaps the most Awesome tag team in the world might actually win, given their momentum right now.
They would be a more interesting choice of champions than the New Day right now, anyway.
Winners: The Usos
The Usos returned to form last night, defeating the Revival in a good tag team match. Gone are the days of Ucey Hot and back rubbing segments, fortunately. This was a solid encounter that produced a good hint of what these guys can do if they're allowed to go at full gear.
Since WrestleMania tag team title matches are always multi-team affairs, it wouldn't be surprising to see these two teams get in the ring with the New Day and the Miz/Morrison tandem. We'll just have to see what happens.
Loser: Bayley
Unfortunately, things got a lot weaker from here on out on this week's SmackDown. It was another week, another champion losing in a non-title match. Lacey Evans injured Sasha Banks and then defeated Bayley cleanly.
It's hard to believe that Bayley won't get her win back at the Royal Rumble, or that WWE would throw away a Sasha vs. Bayley match at WrestleMania in favor of the still clunky Evans, but given how obsessed they are with the latter, you never know for sure. Either way, Bayley came out on the losing end.
Losers: The SmackDown women's division
Beyond the title picture, the blue brand's women's division is in a dire state. Alexa Bliss defeated Sonya Deville, but the entire thing was a poor showing, and this angle between Mandy Rose and Otis isn't funny. It's just not very good at all.
The rest of the division feels aimless, like it's just being used to fill time, and while this is true to a certain extent on RAW with Charlotte Flair's random matches of late, it has the better talent to make things more presentable.
When Asuka is done with the Becky Lynch feud, hopefully things will open up more, as the floating tag team titles return.
Loser: Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns won this car crash cluster of a match and by virtue of his victory, declared he would face Baron Corbin in a falls count anywhere match at the Royal Rumble. The problem is that this feud is just really bad. Baron Corbin has never been in an interesting feud, and all this has done since it began is undercut Roman Reigns.
Let me ask: Does Reigns feel like a favorite to win the Royal Rumble right now? I'm guessing you'd answer with "no." And there's the problem. He could well win and probably will defeat the Fiend at WrestleMania, but he doesn't feel like a serious contender, and that's all thanks to this Baron Corbin feud.
Hopefully the Royal Rumble is the last of it.
