An uninspiring episode of WWE SmackDown Live on Tuesday night made it clearer than ever that WWE is just going through the motions with this brand on the way to the Royal Rumble. How else can you explain almost nothing on the show being entertaining and storylines hardly developing?

In fact, there appeared to be more concentration on the Mixed Match Challenge -- debuting next week on Facebook -- than anything else, which is fine in theory and does have me intrigued but is nonetheless not the show I was trying to watch on Tuesday.

Let's take a look at what (barely) went down on SmackDown.

The feud that will never end obviously continued

SmackDown opened with WWE champion AJ Styles in the ring explaining how general manager Daniel Bryan took a sarcastic statement and put him in an unfair situation that he will nevertheless overcome. That brought out Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, who cut a solid promo on Styles putting his foot in his mouth and noting how they will dominate SmackDown as co-WWE champions. Enter commissioner Shane McMahon, who said he was baffled by Bryan's matchmaking but nevertheless supported his decision. McMahon then made the main event of the evening. Later in the show, it was made clear to Styles by his teammates that their partnership was one night only.

Backstage, McMahon stepped to Bryan and made it clear they were nowhere near on the same page regarding nearly every decision Bryan has made recently. McMahon then called Bryan "unstable," which Bryan threw back in his face "especially considering your gene pool." McMahon took a breath, agreed to disagree and left the room before things escalated between the two.

AJ Styles, Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura def. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn via pinfall: The best friends attempted to force a countout early, which brought McMahon out to restart the match and declare it could not end that way. Owens grabbed a chair late in the match and used it on all three of his opponents, earning a disqualification. McMahon restarted the match a second time, declaring it a no-DQ affair. With Styles and Owens fighting backstage, Orton and Nakamura had Zayn to themselves. After a couple shots outside (steel steps, table), Zayn ate a Kinshasa from Nakamura and RKO from Orton before getting pinned. It is worth noting that this is the second time in the last month or so that Zayn has been forced to fend for himself while Owens was off fighting elsewhere.

Yawwwwwwwn. The opening promo from Owens and Zayn was fine, and the backstage segment with McMahon and Bryan added a little heat, but besides from that the angle that has encompassed the last two months of SmackDown remains a drag on the entire show. It appears obvious they are slow-playing something, which is fine in theory, but every week is so repetitive and uninspiring that it makes you wonder whether the payoff will be worth it in the end.

What's worse? WWE is not making up for it by booking the rest of the show strong. You could've missed the first two matches below and been no worse off. The United States Championship Tournament seems meaningless considering the level of competition and the fact that, you know, Dolph Ziggler winning was actually a big deal only for him to disappear for weeks. The tag team feud is OK, but heel persona of The Usos' challengers really feels forced. Oh, and they buried Rusev with a clean loss in the middle of the ring. WWE has taken it's hottest show from a year ago and made it something you can skip on a weekly basis. That's as bad as it gets.


What else happened on SmackDown?

  • Becky Lynch def. Ruby Riott via submission: The ladies' "teammates" were at ringside for the match. Lynch reversed a Riott Kick into the Dis-Arm-Her for the tap out win.
  • The Bludgeon Brothers def. The Ascension via pinfall: Squash match. Man, The Ascension have truly reached rock bottom on the main roster.
  • U.S. Championship Tournament -- Mojo Rawley def. Zack Ryder via pinfall: In a quick match, Rawley dispatched Ryder with a running forearm. Bobby Roode, Rawley's opponent in the next round, stared him down afterwards in the ring. Backstage, Jinder Mahal cut a quick promo promising to take down Xavier Woods next week. It's strange that WWE did not allow any of Rawley's awesome promos (all published on social media) on the show to give this match some ... cough ... hype. He could be so much more over than he is right now on TV.
  • Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin get their rematch: In their first extended promo time as a team, Gable & Benjamin demanded justice -- that the tag team titles be freed from the Usos Penitentiary due to what went down last week on SmackDown. The duo got over on a few occasions by referencing the Alabama-Georgia game (SD was in Birmingham, Alabama) and railing against the crowd. Bryan hit the ring to clarify that the referee's decision is always final, to which the team teased Bryan for his rivalry with McMahon and asked what they have to do, beat The Usos twice in one night? Bryan thought that was a great idea and made a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the Royal Rumble.
  • Breezango def. Rusev & Aiden English via pinfall: Rusev shined during the match as per usual, but the short push for the "Rusev Day" duo -- the crowd chanted for it during the match -- took a step back as Fandango rolled up Rusev for the clean 1-2-3.