4 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE SmackDown (19 Dec - Results & Review)

Ups...

4. Aleister Black Drops Damian Priest...Twice!

Your writer has a confession. He definitely thought that last week's mixed tag bout pitting Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley (collectively known as The Terror Twins) vs. Aleister Black and Zelina Vega was the end point for the Priest vs. Black feud. Not so. WWE sees fit to continue Al vs. Damian. No arguments here, at least for now, because this was a well-executed brawl to kick off SmackDown.

Zelina distracted Priest long enough for Black to hit a double knee through a table on his arch nemesis.

Honestly? Don’t really have a clue what gimmick match they’ll do to blow this off, but it’ll be fun finding out. Black ambushed Priest again backstage for good measure. His plastic shovel choice was a bit lame (why was that weapon laying around in the first place?), but this was more solid aggression from him on the whole aside from that. Besides, Aleister actually has a story/feud to sink his fangs into, which is better than what he was doing over in AEW before leaving.

Slight worries about where Damian is going as a babyface persist, but everyone knows these guys can work well together in their sleep. They've already shown that for all the world to see, and they're about to indulge in some more brutality before moving onto other things. Ideally, that'd be up the card for Black - he's long overdue some main event shine on the WWE side.

Side note: Priest might have to call up Rhea again, 'cause it turns out the demonic heel duo aren't done yet.