9 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Dec 11)

7. Simple, Uncomplicated Tag Action

Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rusev and Jeff Hardy was simple booking done well. WWE positioned two sets of rivals against each other in a straightforward tag match, with Rusev pinning 'The King Of Strong Style' for the victory, punching his ticket for a United States Title shot, though it doesn't look like there'll be room for them on the weekend's pay-per-view (which is already stuffed with 12 bouts).

The action itself wasn't anything out of this world. There were no obvious flaws, it was mechanically sound, and they held the audience's attention throughout. That's about all we can expect from three veteran wrestlers competing in a take-it-easy tag on a go-home show. Still, it was well worth the time WWE invested into it.

Some might bemoan Nakamura taking the pinfall, given the lack of focus he's received since taking the United States Championship. We'd argue that the pinfall's value as a storytelling tool supersedes this. It's an old-school pro-wrestling booking technique. Rusev has a clean pinfall over the guy who jumped him a few weeks ago, so it makes all the sense in the world for him to parlay this into a title opportunity later down the line, and we'll probably get it before long.