8 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 18)

by Michael Sidgwick

1. ...With A Fascinating Result

Mustafa Ali Daniel Bryan
WWE.com

[Very minor spoiler for the Christmas Day edition of SmackDown follows.]

Mustafa Ali pinned WWE Champion Daniel Bryan to lay claim to his title. Given that the heel champion cleanly pinned AJ Styles at TLC in a rare but very welcome conclusive finish, this hardly damaged the New version of the character. Rather, it produced a new and potentially very intriguing development.

Does this materialise on a January edition of SmackDown—or are we in for a return to a very astute 2000s Royal Rumble trope? In a bygone time, knowing the Rumble match sold the pay-per-view, WWE experimented by adding a fresh midcard face into a World Title match. Though not always successful, this tactic at least provided us with something different, and it helped launch the careers of Razor Ramon and Chris Benoit—and to a lesser extent Dolph Ziggler—as genuine main event propositions.

Bryan would obviously go over in such a scenario, while also providing ammunition to a WrestleMania opponent with a far more dangerous Road to WrestleMania 35. And, wrestled by an in-ring genius, Ali would be put over immaculately in defeat.

And so ended a good episode of SmackDown—not that it needed fixing. Maybe fix what is broke, eh?

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!