SmackDown Live review (Dec. 19): 3 takeaways

There’s more trouble in the hierarchy of the blue brand. Here’s what we learned from Tuesday night’s episode of SmackDown Live.

Clash of Champions is in the books, and the road to WrestleMania has officially begun for SmackDown Live.

The blue brand visited Newark, New Jersey on Tuesday night for the penultimate episode of 2017. A rowdy crowd at The Rock played host to what was a pretty eventful show.

Before we get to our main takeaways from the broadcast, here are a few other noteworthy moments:

• Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable remain strong contenders for the Tag Titles. The dynamic duo defeated The Usos in a non-title match in the SDL opener Tuesday night. Gable continues to look like a guy who’s built from the Scott Steiner mold. His roll-through German Suplex is just awesome. Oh, and Shelton Benjamin is still CRAZY athletic, even at the age of 42. They’ve lied low for a little while, but in my opinion, it’s time to REALLY get behind them. They’ve more than proved themselves on a number of occasions. Get them ready for prime time. Now.

• There were unfortunately no new developments for Mojo Rawley. Mojo cut a few mean promos over the weekend that showed off an incredible ability at talking. After cutting Zack Ryder down on the Clash of Champions Kickoff Show, he was absent in Newark. For Mojo’s sake, his absence will not be for much longer. He’s a guy, who I think, could benefit with more screen time. A prime U.S. Title contender, if you ask me.

• Speaking of the U.S. Title, its champion showed up … and left. Dolph Ziggler educated the masses, providing a history lesson for all the title victories in his career. Then, Ziggler up and left, leaving the United States Title in the ring. Where Dolph goes now? No one seems to be sure. The promo felt eerily similar to the one that Natalya cut on Sunday, which may make some jump to conclusions that they’re going to be a thing. Some might find that pairing incredibly grating, if it happens. But most of SDL’s mid-card was absent on Tuesday, so it’s a wonder where they’re going with this angle. No Ziggler, no Mojo, no former champ Baron Corbin or Bobby Roode. Can they get a wakeup call?
• Aiden English, Rusev and The New Day fought one another wearing Christmas costumes. Santa Rusev, Rusev Claus, whatever you want to call it, the dude is super entertaining. That much is certain. Aiden is his perfect complement, as we’ve learned, and provided a fine rendition of the hit holiday song, “Oh Rusev Day.” The match itself was fun and comical and humorous. Just what you could’ve hoped for. Hey, does anyone else remember when matches like this were those “Santa’s Little Helper” women’s matches? Thank goodness we’ve moved past that.

And now, our three takeaways from the Dec. 19 episode of SmackDown Live.

Another march toward history

Before we start, let me be clear: It’s fantastic that the women are finally getting a Royal Rumble Match. It’s probably long overdue, and it guarantees that there WILL be a STRAIGHT UP one-on-one title match at WrestleMania. That hasn’t happened since WrestleMania 22. Twelve years is long enough. It should’ve happened a long time ago. Now, we know we’re getting it. And that’s awesome.

With that said, although we didn’t discuss it on Monday, the final segment of RAW was just painstakingly bad. If WWE could move on from all of the self-congratulatory pats on the back that they do when it comes to this stuff, we’d all be better for it. None of what happened, beyond the announcement that the match was actually happening, was very redeemable. At all. Furthermore, it felt embarrassing to watch at times. At some point, WWE will be past the point (that they created themselves) where all the women are making history, so that these matches can just happen without all of this window dressing.

Now … moving on to SmackDown Live. They set this up right. Charlotte cut her first in-ring promo, on her own, in lord knows how long. She hit the right notes and at least made it known that the champ wouldn’t be participating in this (which begs the question of why Alexa Bliss was in the ring on Monday, but that’s for another time).

Then, out came Naomi, who proclaimed she was the first to be in the Rumble match. Of course, I would’ve preferred if Charlotte and Naomi scrapped Tuesday night or even next week in Rosemont. However, making us wait for a possible ‘Mania showdown between the top two talents of the blue brand’s division is fine in its own way. Naomi herself handled herself well on the mic and cut one of the best promos of her career. She shot down the Riott Squad and got the pin in the subsequent tag team match against Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan. (Furthermore, extra special shout out to Morgan, who got to wrestle in her home state of New Jersey Tuesday night)

With WWE’s track record in mind, it’s okay to be happy that this match is happening while waiting to see if they find multiple ways to screw it up. They haven’t earned a reputation yet. That being said, Tuesday night proved to be a step in the right direction. Now, let’s continue that momentum going forward, shall we?