3 Ups & 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Feb 27)

1. AJ's Awful Title Run

AJ Styles' second WWE Championship reign should've been a home run. SmackDown have the consensus best wrestler in the company holding what's supposed to be their top prize. On top of that, he took the gold in a cathartic victory over a universally despised champion in Jinder Mahal, who did more to cripple SD's main event scene than anyone not named Road Dogg over his five month reign. Seriously, how do you mess that up?

Mr. Dogg and his team found a way. First, they prolonged the Mahal feud until Clash Of Champions. They then inserted 'The Phenomenal One' into the Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens vs. The World storyline, which would've been fine if it was a straight-up title feud, but no. Styles, like the heel duo, has been continually bogged down by authority figure bulls*** throughout his reign. It's about Shane and Bryan, not him and the belt, and that's not good enough.

In the ring, Styles has been ineffective. AJ is 3-5 in singles bouts since regaining the gold, with John Cena delivering his latest loss last night. SD's writers have only succeeded in making him look weak. His record is that of a buried United States or Intercontinental Champion, and while his popularity endures, WWE are squandering SD's most valuable asset.

WrestleMania 34 offers a glimmer of hope. Let's just pray that WWE don't find a way to wreck Styles vs. Nakamura...