The biggest winners and losers of last night's SmackDown (December 6)

The Funhouse just got a lot more sinister.
The Funhouse just got a lot more sinister.

Last night's SmackDown, with the exception of the main event, was rote. Is it just me or has the show gotten worse since the move to FOX?

I don't know what it is about WWE, but they just seem incapable of putting on two good main roster shows at the same time. When the quality of one starts ticking up, the other inexorably declines, a dynamic that's been going on ever since the original brand extension in 2002!

Anyway, let's talk about more recent history. December is usually the laziest month on the WWE calendar, so in some ways, this should have been predictable. Who managed to get the most out of last night's show? Who got the least?


Winner: The Miz

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And just like that, The Miz is more prominent than he's been in what feels like forever. Bray Wyatt is targeting his family and now, suddenly, he'll have common cause with his old worst enemy, Daniel Bryan, against a much bigger threat than either of them could have imagined.

This is an intriguing story at the top of SmackDown's card. It will be interesting to see how Bray Wyatt escalates his attacks from here. How long the story lasts will be the key question. It probably will last until the Royal Rumble in some form and hopefully WWE won't mess it up.


Loser: Elias

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I've long given up any hopes that Elias would get a sustained push even to a midcard title. Yet, he's a lot more capable than this. I don't know what it is about Drake Maverick, but Vince McMahon seems to love putting him in awful humiliation segments solely crafted for an audience of one.

This was a waste of everyone's time. Bring back the Elias that gets cheap heat before taking a beating from a good performer, please.

Winners: The Revival

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The Revival defeated three other tag teams - the Lucha House Party, Heavy Machinery, and the makeshift duo of Mustafa Ali and Shorty G to earn a title shot against the New Day at TLC. This was, in fairness to SmackDown, a very good match, and we can expect another one at the December pay per view.

The New Day will probably retain the tag team titles there, but this was a good use of the Revival. They've definitely turned their 2019 around after a humiliating start.


Loser: Lacey Evans

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Once again, Lacey Evans just underwhelms when she's given a spotlight. Her act as a babyface is lukewarm at best and her match with a local jobber just didn't grab any kind of spotlight in the slightest.

This is as traditional a December filler feud as it gets, but it might yet last to the Royal Rumble, which I can tell would already be a painful experience. Everyone's just waiting for one of Sasha Banks or Bayley to turn on the other. Everything until then just feels irrelevant, but we should at least be able to expect a good match. We can't with Lacey.

Loser: Roman Reigns

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Speaking of segments crafted for an audience of one, this had Vince McMahon's fingerprints all over it. Instead of making the most of the tension that came with handcuffing Roman Reigns to the ring post, the segment turned into a bad comedy act with the dog food. Roman Reigns turned into a bad comedy act along with it.

He sure looks different than he did after a hot Survivor Series performance, doesn't he?

As usual when it comes to Baron Corbin feuds, this one is about as hot as a December night in New England. The sooner this is over, the better.

Roman Reigns remains the favorite to eventually dethrone Bray Wyatt as Universal Champion, but he's not going to be nearly believable (or over) enough to do it if the company insists on putting him in segments like this. Hopefully they will learn their lesson, but I doubt it. They never have.