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Circa 2016. WWE Smackdown Live presented the "Wild Card Finals", probably the best two hours of sports entertainment WWE has ever produced. The final show of 2017 was not as good as its predecessor, but certainly provided ample enjoyment for the fans.
As was the case of RAW this week, a fantastic wrestling crowd made a decent show much more worthwhile. Shane McMahon seems to be angering every person in the locker-room, as Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles seem to not be very happy with the Commissioner.
Royal Rumble is still five weeks away, which usually means little to no story-line advancements. However, this week's show had a plethora of fantastic moments. We look at five such major talking points from this week.
#5 A thunderous Rusev Day
Rusev and Aiden English have been the most over duo in WWE in the recent weeks, and this was firmly established in Chicago. Rusev Day was chanted more times than CM Punk, in Chicago!
Daniel Bryan's opening segment saw some entertaining bits by the three tag teams, who later produced a fantastic triple threat match. Smackdown's tag team division has been the best part of 2017 in WWE, and it continued to impress this week as well.
Rusev is mindbogglingly over with the WWE Universe. His gimmick is already drawing comparisons to how Daniel Bryan's YES movement was over with the crowd. If this doesn't guarantee a monstrous push for the Bulgarian Brute, then what will?
#4 Festival of friendship
Breezango were given a "Christmas Present" by their best friends Ascension, which was a rematch against the Bludgeon Brothers. Breezango faced the Bludgeon Brothers at Clash of Champions, which resulted in absolute destruction.
A rematch between these two teams was on the same path of destruction, before Breezango's best friends, Ascension, saved them. In another case of proper tag-team booking, Ascension provided great comic timing by making Breezango challenge Harper and Rowan to yet another rematch!
The Ascension were absolutely wasted on the main roster, but this unlikely pairing with Breezango and a goofy gimmick has made them a fun sight to watch.
WWE has a tendency to book secondary tag-team division and women's division feuds in a crappy fashion, and hence this is a pleasant surprise.
#3 Women's revolution fading?
The whole of 2017 in the women's division has been a sham. 2016 saw some entertaining feuds and the Women's Revolution reached unimaginable heights. However, this year we saw the ultimate destruction of Bayley, the worst segment in WWE in the form of "This is Your Life", a number of mindless multi-way matches and a man winning the Women's Money in the Bank.
Tonight, a wrestler who won the Women's Championship at Wrestlemania, lost in under a minute. Last night, we saw Bayley take the pin in a match where Mickie James (someone brought in to put other Superstars over) took part in.
Natalya has once again reinstated the Welcoming Committee, which was a dud back in April. Women's Wrestling needs a makeover soon.
#2 Who doesn't love tournaments?
Dolph Ziggler apparently relinquished the US Championship last week, which resulted in an eight-man tournament for the vacant title. This could be a great way to utilise the mid-card of Smackdown roster and make it much more interesting.
Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode collided in the first match of the tournament, in which Roode prevailed. Corbin is yet to get a rematch for the US Championship which could be interesting moving further.
Jinder Mahal's main-event push has finally come to an end, and his run in the mid-card could be engaging if booked correctly. Mahal's status as a performer has increased a lot since his feud with Styles.
We still do not know the final four participants in the tournament, could any surprises be in store next week?
#1 A new (?) opponent for Styles
"The Most Heated Rivalry of 2017" was revisited this week, as Kevin Owens took on AJ Styles. In probably their best match of the year, both the superstars gave a tremendous match-up to close the year.
Shane McMahon's personal "vendetta" continued on Smackdown Live, as his interruption led to a pinfall loss for the WWE Champion. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens once again succeeded in spite of Shane's interference.
It will be interesting to see whether Kevin Owens' pinfall victory will lead to an opportunity for the Prizefighter for the WWE Championship. Or could Sami Zayn finally warrant himself a place in the main-event scene?
