 The Bloodline Addressed the AudienceI love how everyone in The Bloodline are focused on separate issues and opponents at the moment and Paul Heyman did an excellent job of addressing all of that. Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn also played their respective roles well in what was the usual strong segment from The Bloodline. The dynamic Reigns and Zayn have continues to be one of the best things in all of WWE and Reigns' eventual betrayal of Zayn is going to be incredible. Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos def. Hit Row (Top Dolla and Ashante "Thee" Adonis)Of the many title defenses The Usos have had since July 2021, this would definitely rank toward the bottom. That isn't to say it was actively bad (it was actually pretty passable), but the crowd couldn't care less about Hit Row at the moment and they desperately need a reset in the worst way, whether it be a new member or a heel turn or something. It was an easy win for The Usos, as Hit Row didn't feel like a threat to The Usos in the slightest. Raquel Rodriguez def. Shayna Baszler, Sonya Deville, Liv Morgan, Xia Li, Tegan Nox and Emma in a SmackDown Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Gauntlet MatchI don't know why Triple H hasn't understood this yet, but putting most of the women on SmackDown in one match to determine a number one contender to the title is less and less effective each time they do it, especially when most of these women aren't positioned as anyone important and have zero chance of actually winning. This was pretty subpar on the whole and I wasn't a fan of Li (who has largely been booked as a jobber over the last year) making quick work of both Emma and Nox. They told a story with Rodriguez working through an arm injury to win the whole thing, but because she had to sell the arm injury, her mini matches weren't very good. Baszler in particular looked bad because she lost in fluky fashion to an injured Rodriguez almost immediately. Bray Wyatt Attacked a CameramanWhile I appreciate Wyatt being featured weekly, it's almost to his detriment at this point if nothing of any real significance is going to happen. That isn't to say nothing is accomplished from these segments, but this storyline with him and LA Knight is moving at a snail's pace at this point and these promos from him, while well-delivered, typically leave me underwhelmed. This was no exception, though it did make me wonder if we're going to soon see the return of The Fiend. Rey Mysterio def. AngelAngel isn't back to being Angel Garza just yet, but hopefully in due time. This marked his first televised match in nearly three months, which is mind-boggling. Los Lotharios should absolutely be featured more often. It was a bummer this was so short, but what we got from them was fun while it lasted. I liked that you could see Karrion Kross and Scarlett watching from afar in the audience. I'm looking forward to their eventual match. Braun Strowman and Ricochet def. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci) in a Tag Team Miracle on 34th Street FightIf you've seen one Miracle on 34th Street Fight, you've practically seen them all, but as a Christmas mark, I enjoyed this. It was more over-the-top than other installments with the mistletoe, the ballerina in the box and The New Day dressing like nutcrackers, but the crowd had fun with it. It also gets us one step closer to Strowman challenging Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship, either on the first SmackDown of 2023 or at the Royal Rumble. Overall ShowUnlike Monday's Raw, this was your typical throwaway holiday show. The silly main event and the opening segment with The Bloodline were the highlights of the night while everything else was largely underwhelming. The crowd being as lifeless as they were wasn't surprising considering this was taped after last week's SmackDown, and it felt like they were holding off until next week's final episode of the year headlined by John Cena and Kevin Owens vs. Reigns and Zayn to do anything significant.
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