WWE SmackDown Live Review - December 18, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

SmackDown Women's Champion Asuka def. Naomi

In addition to addressing Ronda Rousey's actions at TLC, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair demanded another shot at the SmackDown Women's Championship, but Mr. McMahon granted Naomi a title match instead. Asuka and Naomi have been on-and-off tag team partners for months, but they have never been opponents until this show. Thus, this felt fresh and I was happy it received an ample amount of time. It was an enjoyable encounter, even if the outcome was never in doubt.

Jeff Hardy Attacked Samoa Joe

This segment was advertised as Joe issuing Hardy an "apology" for targeting his past demons, but instead it turned into a solid verbal exchange between the two. It didn't last long at all, but it did its job of furthering the feud and giving Hardy the edge over Joe for once. They'll go one-on-one on next week's edition of SmackDown Live, though I'm sure that won't be the end of it, either (nor should it be).

The Miz and Mandy Rose def. R-Truth and Carmella

You would think that Truth and Carmella would have so much momentum coming off their Mixed Match Challenge Season 2 victory. Well, they lost here to the makeshift duo of Miz and Rose. I actually liked the chemistry Miz and Rose had together, but that may be because Rose reminds me a lot of Miz's wife Maryse. Meanwhile, the match was nothing to write home about and I have no idea what's next in this never-ending Miz and Shane McMahon saga.

The Usos vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson Ended in a No Contest

I've been saying for months that SmackDown's tag team division has largely revolved around The New Day, The Usos and The Bar since the Superstar Shake-up in April and no one else. Yes, they all work well together, but it's ridiculous that tandems such as Gallows & Anderson and SAnitY almost never receive television time. Thankfully, that changed here. It was a decent match, but I hated the non-finish, because it accomplished nothing. Introducing Gallows & Anderson as well as SAnitY back into the tag title mix simultaneously will result in none of them getting over.

Mustafa Ali and AJ Styles def. WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and Andrade "Cien" Almas

It was announced earlier in the evening that Ali would be a full-time member of the SmackDown roster moving forward, which is excellent news. He had a hell of a debut last week against Bryan and he had an equally exciting outing in this main event. He brings a lot to the table and it's awesome that the powers that be are starting to take notice. If they weren't, he wouldn't have pinned the WWE Champion here. As you would probably expect based off who was involved, this was an above-average main event where everyone shined at one point or another. The Styles vs. Bryan feud continues, while Ali has a claim to an eventual WWE Championship shot. Almas is the only one who feels lost in the shuffle, unfortunately.

Overall Show

For those wondering, it was revealed at the start of the show that due to what happened on Monday's Raw, Paige's days as SmackDown general manager are over. She was actually a fantastic fit for the role, so it's a shame she's a victim of these changes being made with the on-air management. I'm curious what she'll end up doing instead. Nevertheless, this was a solid reset show for SmackDown, with a number of familiar faces being brought back. The wrestling wasn't a top priority outside of the entertaining main event, but at least several storylines progressed and SmackDown seems to be undergoing a similar overhaul to Raw. We'll see if it sticks, though.