11 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 4)
3. Styles Overcomes Miz (And Bryan)
A splendid match between two splendid competitors with splendid chemistry on a spendid episode of SmackDown? We'll take that any week of the year.
Set up through their segment earlier in the show, AJ Styles vs. The Miz felt fresh and exciting. They concocted an effective layout with Miz controlling most of the early stages but AJ battling back throughout, and as inevitable as Daniel Bryan's involvement was, they did a great job of incorporating him without detracting from the bout itself.
Daniel was tremendously entertaining on commentary and imposed himself on the action after offering AJ his hand, before 'The A-Lister' tossed him into the barricade. This led to an awesome nearfall on the Skull Crushing Finale. It looked like Miz had the match won, but AJ timed his kickout to perfection, and eventually overcame his villainous opponent after fending off another Bryan interference. The Calf Crusher left Miz with no choice but to tap, and that was that. 13 minutes of crisp, exciting action on a Tuesday night.
Splendid.