This week's SmackDown was a taped episode for WWE as the roster is on holiday just a couple of days before Christmas. Still, there were plenty of big names on the show, and the company sent fans home with a big babyface win at the end of the night, a tradition that makes a lot of sense given the timing of the show.
Featured on the two-hour card was a Miracle on 34th Street Fight that included Braun Strowman and Ricochet vs. Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci), and Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Match of Hit Row vs. The Usos (c), a No. 1 Contender's Gauntlet Match: Liv Morgan vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Emma vs. Tegan Nox vs. Xia Li vs. Sonya Deville, a Bray Wyatt promo and more.
Here are your winners and losers from SmackDown, on December 23, 2022:
Winner: Sami Zayn
Roman Reigns and The Bloodline kicked things off and after saying what he typically does when it comes to his opponents -- that he'll smash them -- he gave Sami Zayn the floor and Zayn delivered. The Ultimate Opportunist was not his jovial happy self. Instead, he cut an angry and emotional promo in which he referred to Owens as the dark cloud that hangs over his career and someone he can't get rid of. He then took issue with Owens recruiting Cena and talked about how you don't step to The Bloodline and expect to survive.
Zayn continues to show off his emotional range and acting chops. There are few in WWE who can turn as he does and from week to week, fans get to see a new side of this character. He's got everyone enamored and he's on his way to becoming WWE's top babyface.
Winner: WWE Tag Team Championship Match -- Usos vs Hit Row
Hit Row has a long way to go when it comes to their in-ring work, but when put in the ring with a team like the Usos, they're good enough to make a match entertaining. This contest had an obvious outcome but it was still one of the better showings by Top Dolla, Ashante Thee Adonis and B-Fab, all of whom might be considered the most disappointing of Triple H's rehires. It helped that the two sides went with more of an old-school, hot-tag type match. It gave Top Dolla an opportunity to sell a little and using "last week's leg injury" as way to give The Usos the win helped the big man look strong in defeat.
Loser: Women's No. 1 Contender Gauntlet Match
Gauntlet matches don't often help most of the competitors in the actual match beyond maybe one or two people. On Friday, Raquel Rodriguez got the win and the rub from a number of other female stars who took quick pins and didn't look like much in terms of viable competition. Emma was done with quickly, Tegan Nox quickly thereafter. That's not great for either competitor, especially considering how new they are that they lost to Xia Li, who didn't set up as a legitimate threat after last week's hooded attack. The real loser here was probably Shayna Baszler who continues to be used as a stepping-stone for adversaries who are trying to get to The Baddest Woman on the Planet.
WWE did the right thing by having Rodriguez win and they've set up the right match for the SmackDown Women's Title with Ronda Rousey.
Winner/Loser: Wyatt Attacks A Cameraman
After last week when Uncle Howdy made his first live appearance as a character, Wyatt took to the ring to deliver a promo and say 'I told you so' to everyone who doubted him when he said he wasn't the creepy, cryptic man in the hat and mask. But, as Wyatt was addressing the fans, he lost his train of thought. Perhaps embarrassed or overtaken by something else, he attacked a cameraman and applied a Mandible Claw until WWE officials were able to pull the cameraman out of the ring.
This was an odd segment, especially after last week. Some will argue that the company is running in circles but as one YouTuber wrote, "I love how he’s desperately trying to convince himself and everybody else that he’s not the twisted guy he use to be. You can tell he doesn’t even truly believe it himself. He’s brilliant." That could be what WWE is trying to do here. The struggle for Wyatt is the central idea in this storyline, not his actual beef with LA Knight.
Winner: Rey Mysterio vs. Angel Garza
It was nice to see Rey Mysterio back in action after nursing an ankle issue. He took on Angel Garza in a singles match with Karrion Kross watching on from the crowd. This was a simple match with a simple idea, but it worked well. Having Rey wrestled and Kross stalk him doesn't take much writing, but it's a good setup for their eventual match. Angel and Humberto need to be used more often than they are in WWE. This is a legitimate tag team that should be doing more.
Later in the evening, Scarlett had a run-in with Emma backstage. Emma slapped her for disrespecting Rey and Kross separated the two and then warned Emma that she had no idea what she'd just done in upsetting his valet. Emma and Scarlet have been working live events as wrestlers. This is likely leading to an eventual match.
Winner: Miracle on 34th Street Fight: Ricochet and Braun Strowman vs. Imperium
Typically, these matches are a trainwreck and not in a good way. That said, the added element of Imperium and selling the idea that they didn't even want to take part in such a stupid tradition that spat in the face of traditional wrestling was an ingenious twist that made the rest of the shenanigans work. And, none of the four men in the ring oversold the use of holiday props that surrounded them. Tables, trees, and other items were used just enough to make them an added element of the match and not a crutch that the talent had to try to work in.
Some might say the big boxes that revealed a ballerina and New Day as nutcrackers were a bit much, but again, because Imperium was so flabbergasted by how stupid the whole thing was, it worked. Braun Strowman and Ricochet picked up the win to send the fans home happy ahead of the holiday break.
