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The preview for last night's SmackDown, the go-home edition for the blue brand ahead of the Royal Rumble, was an open advertisement of WWE's laziness. The show didn't break from that impression, though it perhaps tried with the ongoing AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn saga.
Lost momentum: Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin
Here's where WWE's lazy storytelling formula really does a disservice to its performers. The match was a good one, but Gable's victory over Jey Uso suggests that he and Shelton Benjamin will almost certainly lose at the Royal Rumble.
From there, they'll certainly be out of contention.
The Usos shouldn't be losing their titles at this time, but is it too much to ask for the company to try something else with their builds for a change?
Lost momentum: The entire SmackDown women's division
In a lazy repeat of what happened on RAW, the women took turns throwing each other out of the ring after Naomi defeated Liv Morgan in a singles match.
Who cares?
Gained momentum: Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura's victory over Baron Corbin via disqualification, followed by his being hit with an RKO by Randy Orton, suggests he has some momentum heading into the Royal Rumble thanks to WWE's 50/50 formula. Already a favourite to win, he looked as good as he could on the go-home show when applying WWE's twisted logic.
Gained momentum: Bobby Roode and the New Day
This match wasn't so much about the Royal Rumble as what comes after it. Rivalries were set up between New Day and Rusev Day, and Jinder Mahal and Bobby Roode, respectively, with this match. It was fine enough for that purpose.
Lost momentum: Rusev and Aiden English
Unfortunately, New Day's gain was Rusev and Aiden English's loss. As I feared, the immensely over tag team is being lost in the shuffle and WWE looks like it has no desire to do anything with them.
Gained momentum: AJ Styles
After winning against Kevin Owens, the champ was blindsided by Sami Zayn, who went on to win the second singles match.
The favourite to retain on Sunday anyway, WWE's insistence on 50/50 booking demands that AJ Styles get his win back, so he looks even likelier to win now.
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