4 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE SmackDown (20 Dec - Results & Review)

1. This Was More Like It

Creative went 50/50 on Solo Sikoa and LA Knight last week when they really needed to be all in on the former heading into ’Tribal Combat’ at Raw’s Netflix debut early next month. Good news: Here, Solo looked strong and dominant in a six-man tag win alongside Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga vs. Knight, Andrade and Apollo Crews. Crews taking the fall was the most logical outcome, and LA can point to Shinsuke Nakamura’s interference as a reason why his side lost too.

That's a solid piece of business all round, people.

It's cracking to see Sikoa getting his hand raised before facing Roman Reigns in a crunch match that'll surely have WrestleMania implications. To prep, Corey Graves did a real good job of putting over how “ferocious” Solo looked towards the end of the six-man. He dragged Tama Tonga to the corner, tagged himself in, then went to town on Apollo before scoring the three. This was a bit more like the old 'silent killer' version of Sikoa, and it rocked.

WWE has to be full steam ahead with him before the Netflix bow. There can be no half measures if he's going to stand across the ring from a credible megastar like Reigns, put it that way. Solo has to go into that match with momentum, some swagger and a background threat from his troops in the New Bloodline.

Yep, this was more like it. Jacob must've been looking up from the floor and thinking, 'Man, I love you Solo'. He really does, you know. Man's smitten with his 'Chief'!

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more wrestling, check out 50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE Royal Rumble and 50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE WrestleMania!