4 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (5 Dec - Results & Review)

3. They Were Cooking Second Half

Ilja Dragunov and Carmelo Hayes started off slow. Real slow. It was an interesting call to go with Ilja dominating the entire first half of the match. Some of his work was borderline methodical heel beatdown stuff, so that showed a different side to his game that'll come in handy should he turn heel in the future. As likeable as he is, you know that's coming with Dragunov someday.

Following that slower first half, things picked up a ton during the second act. Tommaso Ciampa ran in to attack Hayes and cost him the match, but Ilja didn’t see it until watching a replay on the tron afterwards. That’ll come up in the story soon, because the reigning United States Champ wasn't happy that the DIY man had effectively won him the bout.

This is a solid way to go with things too.

It's tasty to see WWE weave some storytelling into these ‘Open Challenges’. They'd be easy to phone in due to the nature of them. 'Ah, just stick Dragunov out there in an endless string of matches then we'll take the belt from him eventually'. That sort of thing. The fact Triple H isn't doing that is testament to how keen he is to make fans pay attention to the title and Ilja's slow burn push.

He's someone with potential to reach main event status if he stumbles on the right feud or storyline. Is Ciampa his ticket to the top? Nah, and neither is Tama Tonga (another challenger being lined up), but some story is better than no story. At least the writing team are trying with this bunch.