20 Greatest WWE SmackDown Moments Ever

10. AJ Saves The Day

AJ Styles' WWE Championship victory over Jinder Mahal was far more than just a standard babyface triumph, and not just because it was the first ever international trade for the top title.

Mahal's 2017 reign was borderline catastrophic for the company. Poor penetration into an Indian market Mahal was cynically pushed to promote was the primary worry at the business end, but audiences suffered far more. Bad match followed bad promo as 'The Modern Day Maharaja' barely even justified his lone t-shirt let alone title reign. Mirroring the earnest babyfaces victories of old, Styles' win felt important in an era where so few switches matter all that much.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett