WWE SmackDown Live Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for November 7

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WWE Championship Match

Jinder Mahal (w/ The Singh Brothers) (c) vs. AJ Styles

Result: AJ Styles defeated Jinder Mahal via pinfall to become the new WWE Champion

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

You know how there’s no such thing as coincidence? Well, try this on for size: The WWE Championship hasn’t changed hands on SmackDown since 2003. That match? Brock Lesnar – the next opponent for whoever wins this match – defeated Kurt Angle – the current Raw GM who’s right smack in the middle of this whole brand supremacy thing. Interesting factoid, glad the announce team brought it up.

I’m sure no one would be surprised if I said this was the best Jinder Mahal match since he was shaken up to SmackDown last spring. It’s all in the pairings – one great superstar can usually pull his or her opponent to a great match. Two great superstars – sky’s the limit. Here, Styles practically willed Jinder into something nice.

While Jinder reveled in the punishment he was dishing out, Styles was bumping like crazy to sell that punishment. When AJ started his inevitable comeback, it seemed like it may have come too soon. There was more than ten minutes left in the episode when AJ hit the stike flurry combo.

But after that initial comeback, things got even better. Mahal launched him across the ring with a couple of faceplants, Stlyes came back with the ushigoroshi. Jinder works the knee, Styles transitions into the Calf Crusher. Both superstars had an answer for everything his opponent had up his sleeve.

It took until about 15 minutes into the match before The Singh Brothers got involved. AJ hit the springboard 450 splash, but the Singhs pulled Jinder out of the ring. Styles beat them both down, but Jinder recovered enough to counter the Phenomenal Forearm into a Khallas – but Styles got his foot on the ropes and survived to fight a little longer.

The response from the crowd when Styles hit the Phenomenal Forearm and won the match was amazing. The fact that the WWE Championship changed hands is surprising enough – but on a pre-taped episode of SmackDown in the UK? When does that happen? (The answer is never – the WWE Championship had never changed hands outside of North America until tonight.)

Next: AJ Styles: Ten Best Matches Prior To Joining WWE

So now Survivor Series undergoes another change, and we’ll get AJ Styles vs. Brock Lesnar in a champion vs. champion match. The excitement meter just went way off the charts for this one, even if there is no build to it. It was a lovely cherry on top of a great episode of WWE SmackDown Live.