5 Ups And 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE Talking Smack (Jan 31)

7. Down - SmackDOWN Live

Inescapable at the Pay-Per-View itself, it was left to returning co-host Daniel Bryan to address the elephant in the room regarding Smackdown Live's Royal Rumble neglect.

Despite the important acknowledgement of Randy Orton's eventual battle royal victory and AJ Styles and John Cena stealing match-of-the-night honours in their WWE Title classic, General Manager Bryan highlighted the disrespectful treatment the rest of 'his' roster received at Sunday's event.

Noting how none of the blue brand's undercard titles were on the line and the demotion of the six-women tag team match to the pre-show, Bryan nobly took ownership of the problem in kayfabe, presumably to highlight the very real inequality to any WWE management that may have been listening or watching at the time.

He'd also highlight the disappointing statistic that only eleven of the thirty men in the Royal Rumble were Smackdown Live stars, which called further attention to the shoddy manner in which the bulk of the talent were treated in the match, with obvious notable exceptions Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton.

Despite the good intentions of Bryan's delivery of the message, it sent a dangerous precedent in undermining the show and Smackdown Live as a brand, when just weeks previous the crew were trumpeting ratings success over Monday Night Raw.