6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (Dec 15 - Results & Review)

A huge AJ Styles return and WWE's Royal Rumble announcement made SmackDown newsworthy.

By Jamie Kennedy /

WWE.com

The three big stories coming out of this week's SmackDown are Randy Orton's challenge to Roman Reigns for Royal Rumble, the welcome return of AJ Styles, and the announcement that Charlotte Flair will miss most of 2024 due to injury. That last one sucks, and could throw a spanner in the works for WWE's women's division plans.

Advertisement

Friday's show boasted significant star power overall though. Roman being back on TV always helps, and the addition of Orton eases the burden on everyone's favourite 'Tribal Chief' somewhat. Then, there are other top names like Kevin Owens, LA Knight and the aforementioned AJ.

Did Styles look jacked or what?!

Advertisement

AJ might've also teased that he won't be babyface for much longer. There are some serious questions to answer coming out of SmackDown on The OC leader's side, so expect him to get mic time on next week's Christmassy edition.

Triple H's creative team worked in all of that stuff, and kept the United States Title number one contendership tournament rolling on too. Here's all the good and bad from another busy week on FOX!

Advertisement