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Compared to this week's horrid Raw, SmackDown was firing on all cylinders. Not only did all the major storylines for WWE TLC advance, but the blue brand also gave us new ones, including in the form of a week before Christmas gift that has "potential match of the year candidate" written all over it.
What went down and who got the most out of last night's good show? Let's take a look.
Winner: Becky Lynch
The Man is back and thankfully, it wasn't to relinquish the title. She's been cleared. With the excitement that we got, her injury inflicted by Nia Jax is literally last week's news.
Bad news for Nia's relevance, good news for everyone else.
Becky and Charlotte went at it, battling over the rights to battle Ronda Rousey. Becky even declared that Charlotte was trying to cheese off of her, which got the crowd popping, because...well...it's true. This ultimately led to Paige announcing a TLC match between them at the pay per view, but we soon found out that it wasn't going to involve only them. A battle royal was announced between the other women on SmackDown to determine who would join them at TLC.
The triple threat stipulation allows Becky and Charlotte to tease their rivalry without tiring us out with endless rematches. It's a win for everybody.
Winners: The Usos
We thankfully didn't veer back into the territory of the New Day and the Bar. Been there, done that. The Usos answered the open challenge, and while it's always tiresome to see WWE job its champions in attempts to set up rivalries and matches, we can let it slide for now because the Bar and Usos should do great together.
If this match gets added to TLC, it will be one more in what's already shaping up to be one of the strongest cards of the year.
Winner: The United States Championship
The United States Championship has been completely irrelevant during Shinsuke Nakamura's reign. For months, it's been largely absent from TV, only recently emerging from the wilderness for a clash at Survivor Series with Raw's Intercontinental Champion, Seth Rollins.
Now, WWE brass finally appear to have caught up with something the fans have known for months (it's usually that way) because a rivalry was set up between Nakamura and Rusev last night. A clash at TLC is sure to come.
Again, this segment was a win-win for everyone. Rusev gets some time in the spotlight and so does Shinsuke Nakamura and his United States Championship, which it desperately needed. The Rusev vs. Nakamura pairing is also fairly fresh as they haven't had that many matches with each other, and never a match on pay per view.
Add this as another probable solid bout to come for TLC on December 16th.
Winners: Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy
Both guys needed something to do, badly. They're too talented and over to wander in the wilderness forever. So why not give us a fresh feud and put them up against each other?
That's just what SmackDown did last night and in a brutal promo that proved once again that he's the best in the company in this area, Samoa Joe went to work with his usual mind games, bringing up Hardy's history of substance abuse problems and even said that he probably couldn't remember most of his career.
Jeff Hardy, meanwhile, played the proper foil to this act, staying tame and declaring that he would make some moments with Samoa Joe if his antagonist wanted to take him up on the challenge.
This was great and it appears SmackDown is finally figuring out how to get all of its prominent talent into its two-hour time span.
Loser: The Miz
This was the one part of the night that felt like filler. While Miz and Kingston had a good match together (how could they not?), it didn't feel of much consequence, and following last week's embarrassing loss, The Miz is in danger of falling into irrelevance just when he needed some extra spark to make his seeming babyface turn work.
We'll have to see what happens going forward, but this was the one star on the show who didn't have such a good night.
Winner: Randy Orton
Randy Orton does this sadistic heel thing very well, doesn't he? He flaunted Mysterio's mask and talked about how euphoric he felt after badly hurting his opponent last week.
Rey Mysterio tried to fight back, but Orton again got the better of him, put his neck in a char, and slammed it into the steel post, just as he did last week.
Will TLC have room for this? I don't know, but I wouldn't mind seeing it there!
Winner: Asuka
Asuka was by far the night's biggest winner. After flailing in obscurity for months, the Empress was finally put back in a good spot, by winning the battle royal and making it to TLC, to the crowd's delight.
That means that we're getting Charlotte vs. Becky vs. Asuka in a TLC match on December 16th. If that doesn't excite you, you probably shouldn't be watching this show.
That match immediately stands out as the proper main event of the December pay per view, and while that doesn't seem likely (because of Vince McMahon's obsession with Raw), it's going to be the show stealer with near 100% certainty.
It will also have WrestleMania implications, as Ronda Rousey's name was dropped during the build. If one of Charlotte or Becky is going to challenge Rousey at MetLife Stadium, one of them can't be SmackDown Women's Champion by Royal Rumble time.
We'll see where this goes!
