WWE SmackDown Live review (Dec. 26): 3 takeaways

The final SmackDown Live of 2017 took place outside the Windy City of Chicago. Here’s what happened, plus a few things we learned.

SmackDown Live didn’t have as much success this year as it did in the latter half of 2016, but the brand still had plenty of good vibes as it turned in its final episode of 2017. Like last year, the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburbs played host to the blue brand for its final show of the year.

While it was no Wild Card Finals, the episode still had plenty of high points, although some lows, too.

Before getting to our main takeaways, here are a few leftovers:

• A United States Championship Tournament began with Bobby Roode defeating Baron Corbin. A title tournament is an exciting venture, and definitely a good way to get the midcard exposed. SmackDown Live is in dire need of that, and the more matches they get out of it, the better. With Dolph out of the picture for right now, the spotlight shone on Roode and Corbin, with The Glorious One picking up the win. Jinder Mahal later defeated Tye Dillinger in another first round matchup. We’ll have to wait for Jan. 2 to find out who else is involved. But let’s hope the likes of Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder, among others, get their licks in. It can only help them.
• The Bludgeon Brothers smashed The Fashion Police — again. We learned The Ascension finagled a rematch for Breezango, but Breeze and Fandango suffered the same fate to Harper and Rowan. Of course, we then learned that Konnor and Viktor put them up for another rematch next week.
• It was Rusev Day in Chicago. Seriously, the man is super-duper over. It’s a swell sight to see, isn’t it?

And now, here are the main takeaways from the final SmackDown Live of 2017:

A coup de grâce for the tag team division

The SmackDown Live tag team division has been tops all year long. It came as no surprise that the teams of the blue brand got a nice reward to end the year. The blue brand’s tag division owned the opening segment, a feat that last year, frankly, would’ve seemed impossible. The teams of Rusev and Aiden English, Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable and The New Day all faced off for the right to face The Usos for their Tag Team Championships.

It comes as little to no surprise that the three teams delivered. It was a phenomenal 3-way match with high-impact moves and dramatic near falls. You name it, the match had it. In the end, Benjamin and Gable continued their roll, winning the epic contest, and assured themselves of a shot at The Usos on next week’s episode of SmackDown Live.

As it pertains to the result, this was the right call. Benjamin and Gable never received a shot at the tag team titles in a straight up tag team match. So ultimately, with The Usos turning face, you go with the face-heel dynamic. With that said, sooner or later, they’re going to pull the trigger on English and Rusev. Rusev was massively over in Rosemont on Tuesday night. It’s clear that this character, and this team, is working and working well. One day, Rusev Day will reign supreme. And it will be a glorious day.

Across the board, the tag division has never been better. There are so many great teams on both sides of the fence. Especially down in NXT, where this train really got rolling two years ago. Plenty of untapped potential remains, too. The best is probably still to come in 2018. But 2017 ended perfectly for the tag division on SDL. They remained the best thing that the brand has produced all year long.