What superstars gained the most from last night's SmackDown (December 12)

With each weekly WWE episode, some superstars gain momentum and others lose it as storylines develop.

The go-home show to Clash of Champions was a bit underwhelming with some annoying 50/50 booking, particularly in the build to the US title match, but it was ultimately better than this week's atrocious showing from the red brand. We saw some surprises with Rusev and Aiden English getting a pin on the Usos, but it's hard to believe this signifies the start of a push for the latter or a major loss for the former.

So who really got the most momentum out of last night's SmackDown? Who lost the most?

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Gained momentum: AJ Styles

Seeing through the false front that the Singh Brothers tried to present to him, AJ Styles beat them up and embarrassed Jinder Mahal. Though he would later get ambushed by the former champion, he still has to be seen as the increasing favourite to retain his title at Night of Champions.

Lost momentum: Jinder Mahal

AJ Styles' gain was Jinder Mahal's loss. His latest plan busted, he ambushed the champion more in rage than anything else. After suffering a high-profile loss in India to Triple H, it's even harder to see him walking away with the championship on Sunday.

Gained momentum: Charlotte

Charlotte showed why she's the queen of the blue brand last night. Taking on Ruby Riott with her buddies at ringside and Natalya on commentary, she fought off all her attackers and was only overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Naomi would eventually make her return to save Charlotte from suffering an injury at the hands of the Riott Squad, but Charlotte's performance was the real star of the show.

She looks every bit the champion and should be the heavy favourite to retain on Sunday.

Lost momentum: The Riott Squad

In retreat.

WWE's lazy booking has been in force this week. After squandering much of Absolution's momentum on RAW, they decided to do a mirror image the night after on SmackDown, fully confirming the criticism that the two stables were basically clones of each other.

After failing to take Charlotte out, the SmackDown women's locker room came out to confront them, and the Riott Squad was in full retreat.

They'll all be lumberjacks in the women's title match on Sunday, but the storytelling is rather confusing. While Absolution still has something of a direction on RAW (a seemingly slow build to Paige vs. Asuka at WrestleMania), one wonders what exactly is the endgame with the blue brand's newcomers.

Gained momentum: The Bludgeon Brothers

Another enjoyable squash of hapless local jobbers is in the books and last night we learned that Harper and Rowan will face Breezango on Sunday. The match will no doubt be similarly lopsided.

The Bludgeon Brothers have looked excellent so far, have gotten the crowd into all their matches, and must be considered the early favourites to be competing for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania.

Gained momentum: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

After entertaining us with the "Yep! Movement" in a well-cut promo, Daniel Bryan inserted himself as the second special guest referee in Sunday's tag team match with Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura. We got a preview of what that might mean at the end of the show when Daniel Bryan seemed to hesitate to count Nakamura's pin attempt on Owens but in a delightfully ambiguous way.

Are we headed toward the unthinkable in a Daniel Bryan heel turn (which would be a disaster, so here's hoping not) or perhaps even a double turn with Shane McMahon going dark? What will happen with two referees in the ring at the same time?

If the purpose of TV is to build to a pay-per-view match, this one was done right.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens will likely win.

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