The biggest winners and losers on last night's SmackDown (March 13th)

For the first time in a long while, we got a good episode of SmackDown last night. The WrestleMania build finally began in earnest. SmackDown has a killer lineup for the Show of Shows and it did its best to build that lineup.

The first hour was devoted to it and was the strongest SmackDown's had in months.

The second hour fell off somewhat, but something new finally developed in the Shane/KO/Sami angle.

With a month left for WrestleMania, how good did the show do in building its top stars?

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Winners: AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura

Putting a microphone in Nakamura's hand is always a dicey proposition, but fortunately, he didn't go on too long. This isn't a match that needs much selling, since fans are sold on it already, and WWE did a decent job in just letting the "Universe" soak it in that it was happening.

The slight hesitation of Nakamura to help Styles when he was under attack by Rusev and Aiden English also helped, as it left a point of tension to build on later.

Loser: Rusev

After taking two high profile losses in a row and with nowhere on the WrestleMania card for him to go, things don't look too good for Rusev.

He remains immensely popular, but this can't last forever. Perhaps a victory in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (if it even happens this year) will keep him afloat.

Or perhaps he'll just have to wait and hope for a better post-WrestleMania 2018, the odds of which are dicey at best.

Winners: The Bludgeon Brothers

After destroying The Usos and The New Day at Fastlane, The Bludgeon Brothers destroyed the remnants last night.

The duo look like monsters heading into New Orleans and must be considered the favorites to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship there in the inevitable triple threat match that awaits.

This upcoming match isn't as high profile as some of the others, but it could well be a show-stealer. We know what The Usos and The New Day can do together and the Bludgeon Brothers add a fiery new element that doesn't feel like it's there just for the sake of it.

Winners: Charlotte and Asuka

The promo was somewhat clunky, as Asuka can't be relied on to speak on the mic for long and Charlotte isn't her father when it comes to cutting promos. The good news is that, like AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, fans are already sold on this match, so they didn't need to do much.

It tied up some loose ends from Raw. We clearly understand now that Asuka wants a challenge for her first main roster championship match. Asuka doesn't consider Alexa Bliss a challenge (a point which she'll make clear on Monday), hence, she chose Charlotte.

Charlotte, for her part, sold the match with the narrative everyone was thinking: "What if The Queen went one-on-one with The Empress of Tomorrow? Who will bow down?"

That's what everyone was thinking to begin with. Now, we can build on that foundation to the biggest women's match in WWE history to date.

Winner: Jinder Mahal

Things began to fall off for SmackDown from there, with Jinder Mahal vs. Bobby Roode. Mahal won in his usual boring way, so we now know that he's going to be in the US title match at WrestleMania soon.

It's a big moment in Jinder Mahal's career, there's no question about that.

Unfortunately, the US title scene is a pale imitation of the IC title scene on Raw, and there's not much to get excited about here unless Bobby Roode or Randy Orton turns heel.

Loser: Carmella

In a nothing filler match, Carmella beat Naomi in anticlimactic fashion and had no heat, but she did annoy the viewer with her constant shrieking.

The win feels like a way to make her seem like a threat to cash in at WrestleMania, only to then lose, as the rumors insist.

Truthfully, she shouldn't even do that. There's no reason to spoil the majesty of a Charlotte/Asuka match or its aftermath with Carmella's presence. It's sad for the first female Money in the Bank winner, but that's where we are. She should never have won the briefcase to begin with.

Winners: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

After months and months of uninteresting wheel spinning, life was finally injected in this angle with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn transforming from whiners into attempted murderers.

The attack on Shane McMahon was brutal, possibly the most vicious since Braun Strowman's backstage attack on Roman Reigns last April. That's always good territory to be in.

It sets up Shane to be a returning hero, which is bothersome, but for now, this got much more interesting than it was before.