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WWE

WWE SmackDown was a night of starts and stops in an attempt to build toward January's Royal Rumble event. Eventually, as the match to determine the challenger to "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and his universal championship was started for a third time, Daniel Bryan stood tall, earning yet another crack at the champ by outlasting The Miz and King Corbin in a triple threat match.

Let's take a look at what went down when SmackDown hit Little Caesar's Arena in Detroit for the final SmackDown of the year.

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Daniel Bryan gets 'The Fiend' again

After a brief musical opening by Elias, the show jumped directly into a scheduled triple threat match between The Miz, Corbin and Bryan for a shot at "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt at Royal Rumble. However, Corbin claimed he already earned his opportunity by beating Roman Reigns twice, continuing to run down Bryan and Miz in the process. Eventually, Reigns' music hit and he attacked Corbin at ringside ahead of the match. As the attack continued, Corbin was run off by Reigns. This led to the match getting postponed at Corbin's insistence as the show came back from commercial break. Later in the night, it was confirmed that, despite Corbin demanding the match be postponed, it would go ahead as planned, now as a singles match between Bryan and Miz.

Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz ended in a double disqualification: Corbin's men ran in and attacked both, bringing a stop to the contest. Backstage, Corbin said that the attack was "justice" as he was supposed to be in the match but was unable to participate with Reigns running amok. When informed Reigns had been ordered to leave the building, Corbin then said he would like to now be in the match once again. Bryan and Miz attacked him backstage, but the triple threat was officially back on.

Daniel Bryan def. The Miz & King Corbin via submission to become No. 1 contender: Bryan earned the championship opportunity after submitting Miz with the Lebell Lock. Finally, after two false starts, the triple threat match went down as the show's main event. Bryan and Miz worked together for many of the early moments, including hitting a series of running knees on Corbin before he was eventually able to fight back. Bryan almost got a pin on Corbin when he hit a diving headbutt as Miz had Corbin locked in a Figure Four. Bryan then turned Corbin over into a crossface, also reversing the pressure of Miz's submission but could not get the finish. Corbin hit End of Days on Miz, but Bryan broke up the pin. Bryan then reversed an End of Days into a running knee before Dolph Ziggler ran in to hit a superkick (triple threat matches are no DQ, remember). As Corbin was about to get the pin for the win, Reigns showed up again, this time breaking up the attempt and once again attacking Corbin and laying out Ziggler. Reigns and Corbin brawled out of the arena, leaving Miz vs. Bryan to determine the challenger for the universal title at the Royal Rumble. Bryan kicked out of the Skull-Crushing Finale before getting locked in to a Figure Four. Bryan fought the legs and eventually fought his way into a LeBell Lock to get the submission victory. Immediately after the win, the Firefly Funhouse music hit and Wyatt appeared on the Titantron. Wyatt said "He" is not quite done with Bryan yet, and asked if Bryan was ready to do "whatever it takes" and willing to "let him in." Bryan led a "Yes" chant as the show went off the air.

The start-stop-start-stop-start method of getting to the end result of Bryan winning and earning another showdown with Wyatt was frustrating at times, but there's so much to be said for how much better WWE handles things with Daniel Bryan than almost anyone else on the roster. Bryan's look changing with his personality is a constant part of his story, they don't let go of the history he has with Miz and Bryan's unbreakable will leading "The Fiend" transformation to have made him a better person rather than broken like Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. It's all very Daniel Bryan and all so on point. The booking of the match was sloppy at times, but we got the correct result in the end. Grade: B

What else happened on SmackDown?

  • Braun Strowman & New Day def. Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn & Cesaro via pinfall when Strowman pinned Nakamura after a running powerslam. After last week's issues between Nakamura, Cesaro, Zayn and The New Day, leading to Strowman to making the save for the tag champs, a six-man tag was booked for this show. The heels were heavy on the cheap shots -- as they should be -- but in the end, Kofi Kingston clocked Nakamura from behind with a metal lid, allowing Strowman to hit the finish on Nakamura and further his case for a shot at the intercontinental championship. Following the match, New Day encouraged Strowman to show off his "great hips," leading to a Strowman dance session.
  • Carmella def. Mandy Rose via pinfall after a superkick. Otis gave Rose a homemade fruitcake from his mom before the match, a gift after his mom saw her give him a ham -- and a kiss -- last week. Sonya Deville was not out in support of Rose, seemingly as Rose didn't support her last week which Rose said was due to Otis' sweat ruining her dress last week. Carmella now has a winning streak against Fire & Desire after picking up the clean win over Rose. Later in the show, Dolph Ziggler was flirting with Rose backstage before saying Otis gave everyone in the locker room a fruitcake and that someone found a roach in one. He then stepped on the cake before being dragged off by Corbin. A broken-hearted Otis, of course, found the destroyed cake later in the show.
  • Sasha Banks & Bayley def. Dana Brooke & Lacey Evans via submission when Banks locked Brooke in the Banks Statement. Evans appeared on "A Moment of Bliss" with Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross prior to the match where the clip of Sasha Banks taunting Evans' daughter at ringside last week aired. Evans said it was a line that you do not cross, and it caused her to snap. Evans then said she was ready for a fight and headed for the ring ready to tag with Brooke. As Brooke's music hit, Bayley and Banks attacked her, leading Evans to run to her aid as the show went to commercial. The match featured plenty of nearfalls before Banks was able to finish off Brooke after Evans laid out Bayley with the Women's Right.