The biggest winners and losers of last night's SmackDown (December 4)

Disclaimer: The views of the author do not necessarily reflect those of Sportskeeda.

Last night's episode of SmackDown was a subdued and somber affair, as it was done in tribute to the late Pat Patterson, a cornerstone of WWE for decades. Nevertheless, some important things occurred last night in the build to the final major event of 2020, TLC, which is two weeks away from tomorrow. Who got the most and least out of this special episode of SmackDown?

---

SmackDown Loser: Bayley

The old "defeat by distraction" trope is tired. If Bayley is to be kept as formidable an opponent as possible for Bianca Belair in the coming weeks, she should have beaten Natalya last night. Alas, SmackDown saw the upstart Bianca Belair distracting its former women's champion, causing her to be caught in a Sharpshooter and ultimately, tapping out.

Sure, the loss wasn't entirely legitimate, but the company shouldn't need to feel like this is the thing it needs to do to keep these competitors on something of a level playing field heading into TLC. Bianca Belair should feel like the underdog in her feud with the longest-reigning SmackDown Women's Champion. It would make her victory that much bigger, while, if she were to lose, it would make defeat more tolerable.

---

Winner: Carmella

Carmella has next to no chance of beating Sasha Banks at TLC, but we can give credit to her character evolution here. She feels like a different kind of heel than during her ill-received title run in the spring and summer of 2018. Whereas then Carmella was annoying and felt like she was lacking in credibility, this one feels a lot more formidable.

She should thus serve as a good warmup for Sasha Banks as she inevitably heads into WrestleMania season as the SmackDown Women's Champion. As for Carmella, this character should have more legs in the future.

SmackDown Winners: Cutler and Blake

This match was nothing special and the rivalry between Murphy and King Corbin looks like it's nothing to get excited about, but SmackDown gave us a new development in the form of two new associates who were flanking the latter - the former Cutler and Blake of NXT's Forgotten Sons tag team. The name was apt, because they were basically forgotten in NXT, as well, arguably not doing anything of note there.

Automatically, this means a promotion for them, not just to SmackDown, but because it gives them a foot in the door and opportunities to do something else. We will see how their alliance with King Corbin unfolds on the blue brand. It would be far from out of the question for them to find themselves in the tag team division on Friday nights, though. The Street Profits are going to need challengers going forward once Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler are dismissed. So there are multiple possibilities that weren't available to them before. Time will tell how successful they'll be on SmackDown.

SmackDown Winner: Roman Reigns

It seems that every week, Roman Reigns just can't get enough praise. The way this match was handled was magnificent - and that was after beginning SmackDown with a lightning segment seeing him accept Kevin Owens' challenge for TLC two weeks from now.

After arriving to the main event match on SmackDown late, Roman Reigns took Otis out of commission with the steel steps, then laid a beating on Kevin Owens with a steel chair - subsequently hitting Jey Uso for failure. As the show went off the air, Roman Reigns talked about how he had made it personal and that Owens should have just come after the title.

I don't think it's out of line to say that this version of Roman Reigns is the best thing to happen to WWE in quite some time, or that he's the best in the entire industry right now. He looks unassailable at this point in time and that's the point. It means whoever does take him on and defeat him will look like a bona fide hero.

SmackDown should be exciting over the next few months!