3 Ups & 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Jan 9)

Ups...

3. Mojo Rising

Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder's Clash Of Champions 2017 bout was an unexpected hit. They'd worked a lacklustre feud up to that point, but took it to the next level during the week of the event, with both cutting believable social media promos on each other. The result was a surprisingly heated Kickoff Show bout worked at an impressive clip, with Rawley coming away with a convincing victory.

They rematched as part of the ongoing United States Title tournament this week, and while not as strong as their PPV bout, it was another success. The former Hype Bros crammed plenty of heat into the concise 3:30 runtime, with Mojo coming off particularly strongly. A basic performer he may be, but he appears to have found his calling as a heel, and has done a great job in packing his ring work with enough aggression to mask his basic moveset.

Mojo scored the pinfall, taking him to 2-0 against his longtime tag partner. This was the right choice. Ryder's a solid midcarder, but Rawley vs. Bobby Roode is the more interesting second round bout, and on current form, Mojo looks set to deliver again. Yes, he's a limited performer, and yes, his weaknesses will likely be exposed before long, but it's hard to complain about his current performances.