3 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 19)

Here comes the post-Clash crash.

by Andy H Murray
AJ Styles Randy Orton Kevin Owens
WWE.com

2017's penultimate episode of SmackDown continued the trend established over the past couple of episodes, with the bookers more than content to coast on inertia before the Royal Rumble's build truly starts.

There wasn't much on the upcoming pay-per-view. Charlotte Flair addressed the historic first women's Rumble match, and the bout's first official participant was announced, but there was nothing from the men's side. Given that next week's Christmas/Boxing day episodes of Raw and SmackDown will largely revolve around garish festive-themed motifs, it'll likely be early 2018 before TV delivers any significant developments.

SmackDown's Clash Of Champions follow-ups were patchy, with several major players completely absent from the show. Regardless, we got the latest of Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon's tension-building talking segments, Dolph Ziggler's US Title celebration, and a huge six-man main event starring most of SD's biggest stars.

While not quite as imbalanced as the past couple of weeks, this episode did nothing to shake the blue brand from its traditional December malaise, and it's clear that we'll have to wait until January for a turnaround. Regardless, let's take a look at the segments that at least tried to rise the bar, and those that kept it rooted to the ground.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for six years and is currently WhatCulture's Senior Wrestling Reporter. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.