WWE SmackDown Grades: The New Daniel Bryan Strikes Down AJ Styles

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1. AJ Styles vs. The Miz

AJ Styles held the WWE Championship for 371 days until one fateful night in which it all went away instantly.  Daniel Bryan turned heel and defeated Styles for the WWE Championship on the SmackDown leading into Survivor Series, but he will defend his newly-won title at TLC in Styles’ rematch.

The Phenomenal One has wanted to get his hands on the new WWE Champion ever since that title loss, and he wasn’t in a waiting mood last night when he interrupted Bryan and The Miz on Miz TV.

Despite the fact that The Miz hit a couple of Skull Crushing Finales, he was unable to overcome Styles in the main event of SmackDown Live, tapping out to the Calf Crusher. The match itself was good, but the post-match fallout involving Bryan and Styles was even better.

Immediately after the match concluded, Bryan hit Styles with a chop block and started attacking Styles’s knee recklessly. He smashed Styles’s knee on the ringpost and just kept targeting the body part for an uncomfortably long time, eventually placing Styles into a devastating heel hook, which will apparently be a go-to move for the “New Daniel Bryan”.

Officials had to break this one up to save Styles, but the damage may have already been done. Styles will have some time to heal up before TLC on Dec. 16, but  The New Daniel Bryan, as the announce team noted, is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure he retains the WWE Championship against his formidable opponent at TLC.

Final Grade: B+