With Raw dominating WWE's attention as of late with Raw 25 set for next week and the show providing most of the top headlines leading into the Royal Rumble, SmackDown Live was basically a forgotten show for the second straight week. Not only did the brand's top storyline not develop one iota (Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were not even on the show), WWE pushed up the finals of a the United States Championship tournament -- originally scheduled for the Royal Rumble -- two full weeks to the main event of Tuesday night's broadcast.

In the end, a new U.S. champion was crowned, but considering the title has lost its luster and SmackDown has been in the dumps from a booking perspective since last April, it felt like an unimportant development. With one more episode to go until the Royal Rumble, it will be interesting to see if WWE can figure out a way to make the brand interesting before one of the most anticipated shows of the year.

United States championship decided in surprise move

The United States Championship Tournament was supposed to end at the Royal Rumble until WWE recently announced it would be decided at the go-home show to the pay-per-view. Instead, in a surprise move, general manager Daniel Bryan announced the title would be up for grabs in the main event of the show. The semifinals were both contested in the first hour with Jinder Mahal defeating Xavier Woods via pinfall and Bobby Roode accomplishing the same feat against Mojo Rawley. 

Woods connected with the Shining Wizard but was unable to get the three count on Mahal, leading the Singh Brothers to the ring apron in the first semifinal match. New Day chased them off, but Mahal dodged a Limit Break and threw a sliding Woods neck first into the bottom rope. Mahal then easily placed The Khallas on a dazed Woods for the victory. The clash of styles in the Roode-Rawley match was apparent. Rawley reversed a Glorious DDT by lifting and pressing Roode into the canvas, but Roode soon recovered with a spinebuster before easily hitting a Glorious DDT on Rawley to win. After the match, the Singhs briefly ran in and attacked Roode, who summoned for a mic and suggested they fight for the title tonight. Mahal said no, it would be on his terms, but Brian then set the bout as the main event.

Both wearing blue -- while not necessarily confusing, nevertheless a strange look (particularly for a title fight) -- Roode and Mahal fought for nearly 20 minutes. The problem? Roode is more of a B-side player, as is Mahal, who is not great in the ring. The slow, methodical and -- quite frankly -- boring match could not end fast enough as the crowd sat on its hands the entire time. The Singhs, by the way, were barred from ringside. Roode's blockbuster resulted in a two count, but he reversed The Khallas into the Glorious DDT to pick up a clean win in the middle of the ring.

At least the finish was a bit unexpected as most had to assume Mahal would win the U.S. title. Roode should do a good job with the strap, though it seems the reigniting of a feud with Dolph Ziggler is assured as soon as next week. It's relatively incredible how bad SmackDown has been in consecutive weeks, evidenced by Bryan and commissioner Shane McMahon being all smiles and buddy buddy handing Roode the championship. There's not much more editorializing to do here because WWE truly provided nearly nothing to discuss coming out of this two-hour show.

What else happened on SmackDown?

  • AJ Styles shared backstage that he was confident heading into the Royal Rumble despite being in a handicap match against Kami, a nickname he has given Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. It was not Styles' brightest moment in terms of promos.
  • The Riott Squad def. Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch & Naomi via pinfall: Naomi got the hot tag late and cleared house but eventually got tangled with multiple members of the Riott Squad. Ruby Riott hit her with a heel kick on the ring apron while the referee's back was turned, and Liv Morgan took advantage with a Jersey Codebreaker for the victory.
  • The Usos were attacked from behind by Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin while cutting a promo backstage about the No. 1 contenders being unable to tell them apart and Gable still playing catch up following the departure of Jason Jordan to Raw.