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If Raw's results were warm, SmackDown delivered an unforgettable go-home show that made the best of a bad situation. With Becky Lynch's freak injury suddenly taking away the most anticipated match on the Survivor Series card, WWE scrambled admirably and gave us both a dream match and a major shakeup that will have implications that go far beyond Survivor Series.
Who got the most wind in their sails after this unforgettable episode? Let's go and take a look!
Loser: Andrade "Cien" Almas
Andrade "Cien" Almas taking losses to top guys on SmackDown, like AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan, is one thing. Taking a loss to Jeff Hardy, who has little upside right now, is something else entirely. Point blank - this was a poor use of the company's resources. It's why it has so much trouble building new stars.
We can safely assume that Andrade "Cien" Almas has few prospects going forward and that the rumors of Vince McMahon loving him are at least exaggerated. His only purpose seems to be to make more established people look good, even if those people have few prospects themselves.
This was just unnecessary.
Winner: Charlotte Flair
Becky Lynch's freak injury forced her to choose a replacement to take on Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series. Surprisingly, but maybe not so surprisingly, she chose Charlotte Flair.
What made this surprising was because most people assumed that this was pencilled-in as the main event of WrestleMania 35. It still might very well be, especially with Roman Reigns on the shelf indefinitely, but it won't happen as a first time ever match, so WWE will have to be careful with how it tells this story to mitigate the novelty wearing off.
There might be no winner or it could be part of a redemption story.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan winning the WWE Championship and ending AJ Styles' year-long reign would be shocking enough, since it came so seemingly out of the blue. The heel turn he took to win the title is something else.
Kudos to an inconsistent WWE creative for actually delivering something like this, hot off the heels of the Dean Ambrose heel turn just a few weeks ago.
Not only are we going to see a dream match between Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar (probably to help mitigate the cancellation of Becky vs. Ronda), but this was a sorely needed shakeup on SmackDown. Styles' reign was getting stale a long time ago. Now the show can enter a new era as WrestleMania 35 approaches.
Most interestingly of all, given the way Daniel Bryan won the title, his antics seemed to prove The Miz right. He had to abandon his moral compass to do it.
Interesting!
