Mustafa Ali Vs. Daniel Bryan Continues, John Cena & More On First 2019 SmackDown, Rusev & Lana React

By Marc Middleton

- Tonight's Christmas edition of WWE SmackDown saw the feud between Mustafa Ali and WWE Champion Daniel Bryan continue. Following his singles win over Andrade "Cien" Almas, Ali was being congratulated backstage by The Brian Kendrick, Cedric Alexander, Akira Tozawa and Shelton Benjamin, when Bryan attacked him from behind and beat him down.

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There's no word yet on where WWE is going with the Ali vs. Bryan feud but there has been speculation on Ali receiving a title shot. Ali, who was recently moved to the SmackDown roster, lost a non-title match to Bryan two weeks ago in his blue brand debut. Ali teamed with AJ Styles last week for a win over Bryan and Almas. The finish of that match saw Ali get the winning pin on the WWE Champion. Above is video from tonight's backstage attack.

- WWE has announced John Cena for next Tuesday's SmackDown episode, which will be the New Year's Day edition. The first SmackDown of 2019 will also feature a New Year's Celebration with The New Day. WWE has not announced what Cena will be doing next Tuesday but we noted before that he is being advertised for a MizTV segment with The Miz. Next Tuesday's SmackDown will be taped this coming Saturday night in Pittsburgh, PA.

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Photos & Videos From Rusev's WWE US Title Win

- As noted, the main event of tonight's SmackDown saw Rusev capture the WWE United States Title from Shinsuke Nakamura. Rusev and Lana took to Twitter after the big win and tweeted the following:

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