4 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (12 Dec - Results & Review)

1. Ciampa Challenging Is Worth The Wait

Kudos to SmackDown’s writers: They actually put some thought into Tommaso Ciampa’s United States Title challenge. It’s been built up over a number of weeks/months whilst Ilja Dragunov warred with a string of other wrestlers during ‘Open Challenge’ segments. The match was worth the wait too, and it was even better for some old school psychology that felt like a love letter to the NWA of the 1980s.

Ciampa worked on Dragunov’s knee throughout, then the babyface champion fought against that pain to rally and recover to score the win. Being honest, the live crowd were a little sedate during some of Ciampa’s slow-paced heat sections, but those bits were necessary due to the psychology of the knee that harked back to prior injuries for Ilja. This writer had a good time with this one; it's nice to see guys weaving in some actual logic and selling over a sugar rush of spots for the sake of it.

The match easily could’ve been placed on tonight’s SNME card, which is meant as a compliment. It was verging on PLE quality, and that's typically the case with Dragunov’s matches. His accidental bloody nose added to the drama too, and there was an epic near fall right before the finish when Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae ran in to help their mate.

That had many around ringside fooled.

WWE have Dragunov vs. Tama Tonga waiting in reserve. It's still true that Ilja will need a fleshed out feud soon, but he really is some worker. The US Champ remains one of wrestling's most reliable names.

What did you think of this week's WWE SmackDown? For more like this, check out 8 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2006 and 15 Awesome WWE Sagas To Binge-Watch On Netflix Over Christmas!