5 Things We Learned From SmackDown Last Night

We’re just under three weeks away from one of the three most important PPV events of the year: the Royal Rumble.

WWE was definitely looking to lock in some storylines and matches for the Rumble now as we close in on the big event in Philadelphia. This week’s edition of SmackDown set the stage for a tag team title match (with a twist) that we’ve been anticipating now for several weeks (if not months). Plus management continued to feud, the U.S. title tournament continued, and more.

Read on for our five big takeaways from this week’s SmackDown Live.

1. Daniel Bryan’s Motives Remain A Mystery

AJ Styles opened SmackDown by doing a sit down interview, mid-ring with Renee Young. Right off the bat, she tried to get to the heart of the matter in what everyone wanted to know: did Styles think Bryan made an unfair decision in announcing the handicap match for the Royal Rumble pitting him against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens?

Styles acknowledged that of course he believed it was unfair, but he also knows that life isn’t fair. Styles also mentioned he has no problem fighting each of them one on one, for the title, any time, though he also mentioned he didn’t think those matches should be on SmackDown (whoa, was that part of the script or did he just mess up the line?).

Eventually, Shane McMahon came out. He said he supported Bryan’s decision, but he also thought they should have another handicap match a little earlier. So he announced Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Randy Orton versus Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the main event.

As McMahon walked back behind the curtain, Bryan was waiting for him with a smirk on his face. He asked Shane if he was puzzled, which got the announcers wondering just what is going on.

Later in the show, backstage, McMahon asked Bryan if he was feeling okay, noting he seems a little “unstable.” Bryan said he could say the same thing about Shane, given his gene pool. Ouch.

2. Justice Is Demanded!

Last week, it looked as though Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable had won the tag team titles. In fact, they were even announced as the new champions. However, a replay showed the non-legal Uso had been pinned, and the match was restarted and the Usos eventually retained.

This week, Gable and Benjamin were out for “justice.” They came out and completed what has been a slow building, not so obvious heel turn now for several weeks. Gable asked the crowd if any of them knew what success felt like. Benjamin told the Alabama crowd that just because their college football team won a national title, that didn’t mean that any of them have actually won anything. That got them hot.

They cried about the “bad” decision to restart the match, noting that they lost to instant replay and blaming the referee.

Daniel Bryan came out and said he cant empathize with working hard for something and getting it taken away from you. Bryan said he has issues with knocking management. He noted that the referees decision is final and that’s a cold hard fact that everyone needs to realize – to which Benjamin said if that’s the case, the original decision should have stood (fair point).

After a back and forth that seemed to go on way too long, Gable asked “What do you want us to do, beat them twice in one night?” This prompted Bryan to make a two-out-of-three falls match for the Royal Rumble between the two teams for the titles.

3. Rusev Day Sees A Setback

Breezango, in a rare television match, were put over Rusev and Aiden English. Clean and in the middle of the ring. Surprising, to say the least.

Given how little Breeze and Fandango are used on television (in the ring anyway, skits not withstanding), and Rusev and English have been receiving more and more of a push in the last several weeks, this was certainly a head-scratcher.

In the grand scheme of things, will this really hurt English and Rusev? Probably not. Despite these two getting more and more television time since their pairing, they still clearly rank behind the Usos, Gable/Benjamin, New Day, and the Bludgeon Brothers when it comes to the tag team division, so ultimately this loss really is inconsequential.

4. The U.S. Title Tournament Moves On

The final first round match happened as the former Hype Bros faced off, resulting in a Mojo Rawley victory over Zack Ryder.

This can’t be seen as much of a surprise. Ryder has been around for a while now, so when the team split up, Rawley was obviously the one who was going to be given more of a push. Plus, we’d hate to see Ryder get himself over, only to be booked as a geek again, right?

5. The Main Event Stirs The Pot

The handicap match announced at the beginning of the show was our main event, and part-way through the match, Zayn and Owens attempted to leave. Shane McMahon’s theme came on and he came out on the ramp and announced “not happening on my watch.” He made it a no count-out match.

After a bit more fighting, Zayn and Owens got themselves DQ’ed by using a chair. Of course, McMahon was again out to restart the match and now make it no DQ. In the end, Orton pinned Zayn following an RKO.

As the show went off the air, Daniel Bryan was nowhere to be found. I suppose we’ll have to wait until next week to see what he thought of the actions of his co-worker.