WWE Smackdown Live results and observations (8/22/17): The blue brand is now glorious

Smackdown Live looked to be in dire straights heading into Tuesday night after one of its main attractions, John Cena, finally took advantage of the fact that he is a free agent and showed up on Raw.

But those dire straights did not last long, as the blue brand was helped the addition of two big names.

The acquisitions along with the other happenings made program a good watch, and made me look forward to what lies ahead for the blue brand.

Here are the full match results from WWE's last of four consecutive nights the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

- Bobby Roode def. Aiden English

- The Usos def. The Hype Bros

- Shinsuke Nakamura def. The Singh Brothers

- Naomi & Becky Lynch def. Natalya & Carmella

- WWE United States championship – AJ Styles def. Kevin Owens

One step closer to Owens vs. Shane McMahon

Smackdown Live took another step toward to the seemingly inevitable feud between Owens and the Smackdown Live commissioner Tuesday night.

Owens received yet another opportunity at the United States championship after pointing out that McMahon actually counted Styles' shoulders to the mat at SummerSlam, before noticing that his leg was on the bottom rope and waving off the decision.

Although Styles and McMahon were on board with Owens getting another title match, Owens wanted to be able to choose his own official.

McMahon was reluctant in granting Owens his wish, but Styles, fed up with Owens' constant complaining, wanted his challenger to have whatever he wanted so that there would be no excuses.

McMahon obliged, but under the condition that if Owens lost, he would not receive another United States title match as long as Styles is champion.

Owens searched far and wide for an official he could trust. He started with his former friend-turned-nemesis Sami Zayn. Zayn seemingly gave it some thought, but eventually turned Owens down.

Breezango offered their services in hilarious fashion, but Owens turned them down as well. Just when he was about to change his mind on Breezango, Baron Corbin showed up and offered to be the official.

However, Corbin wanted something in return. If Owens won, Corbin wanted the first crack at the title. Owens agreed.

The match played out like any other match between Owens and Styles until it was obvious that Corbin was looking to give Owens the slight edge, so that he could challenge him for the title down the road.

That apparently drew the ire of McMahon, who decided to rectify the situation by running to the ring and chastise Corbin.

While that was happening, Owens delivered a low blow to Styles. Corbin had his back turned, but McMahon didn't and was not about to let the main event end in that fashion.

When Owens attempted to pin Styles, McMahon pulled Corbin out of the ring. Corbin eventually had enough of McMahon, took the referee shirt off and tossed to the Smackdown Live commissioner.

McMahon then replaced Corbin as referee and eventually counted to three when Styles pinned Owens' shoulders to the mat after delivering the phenomenal forearm.

You have to believe that Owens will use the fact that McMahon literally yanked his title hopes away from him as a reason to want to do bodily harm to him.

There was a lot going on at certain points, but I think it all made sense. I especially like how McMahon saw the low blow and decided that the match was not going to end that way.

However, it does make me question why he wouldn't do that for all of the matches to ensure that every match is contested fairly. I know that would eliminate nearly every finish used in professional wrestling, but I'm just thinking logically here.

McMahon's actions simply made sense for this particular story. I guess I should be happy with that.

Is Styles vs. Baron Corbin on the horizon?

There really wasn't any indication Tuesday that Styles would move on to Corbin as his next opponent, but I would not be surprised given Corbin's involvement in the angle.

If that turns out to be the case, I think that could be good for both men. It would finally give Styles a fresh opponent, but it also gives Styles someone that has a contrasting style — no pun intended — from his, which could make for some very fun matches.

For Corbin, it would be proof that he isn't quite being punished by the powers that be to the extent that he reportedly is. Sure, losing the Money in the Bank contract and losing in uneventful fashion to Cena at SummerSlam could be construed as the beginning of the punishment.

But being put into a feud with one of the best wrestlers in the world over the United States title isn't exactly what I would call a punishment. I would imagine that is a position most other wrestlers would kill to be in.

Smackdown Live is now glorious

If you managed to stay off the Internet and social media all day Tuesday, then you were genuinely surprised to hear those familiar piano keys that signify that former NXT champion Bobby Roode was about to make his grand — excuse me — glorious entrance into the Barclays Center.

If you were like me and saw a photo of him entering the Barclays Center earlier that afternoon, you were not so surprised, but that did not takeaway from the fact that it was pretty cool to see Roode on WWE television, not NXT television, but WWE main roster TV.

I have to admit that it was a little surprising to see Roode essentially play the role of the babyface during his match with English Tuesday.

Granted, Roode is cheered every time he walks into an arena because of his fantastic entrance, but from a character standpoint, he has been a heel since the day he began with NXT last year.

After watching him be the villain for a year now, it was kind of strange to see him suddenly soak in the fans' admiration to the extent that he did.

This did not feel like a one-night thing either. Judging by Roode's promo after the match, he might be a good guy moving forward.

I guess if you're WWE, what is the point of making him a heel if the fans cheer him anyway? I wish the company would apply that logic to more wrestlers on the roster.

Yes, I am talking about Roman Reigns.

Dolph Ziggler is also back and by the sounds of his promo Tuesday, I wouldn't be surprised if we have a Ziggler-Roode feud in the future.

Shelton Benjamin made his long-awaited return

While it was cool to see Roode make his debut on Smackdown Live, it was even cooler to see Benjamin finally make his return to WWE after being away from the company for nearly a decade.

If you recall, Benjamin was supposed to make his return to WWE last year after the draft, but a serious shoulder injury put him on the shelf and his return on the backburner.

Benjamin is apparently all healed up now and is back with the company that he honestly should have never left to begin with.

WWE did the obvious Tuesday by pairing Benjamin up with fellow amateur wrestling standout, Chad Gable.

However, I have a feeling that this pairing is not going to last too long. Benjamin seemed to scoff at the idea of teaming with Gable, but is rolling with it for the time being.

But I have a feeling that Benjamin will not be like Jason Jordan and eventually embrace Gable as his partner. I think Benjamin will do the opposite and turn on Gable simply because he does not want to be part of a tag team.

To me, putting Benjamin and Gable together to create what would essentially be American Alpha 2.0 would be terrible, especially since WWE would be essentially replacing one black guy with another.

That would sort of make the brothers feel interchangeable. That would not be a good look for the company.

However, if WWE does what I think it will eventually do, not only does it provide something different, but it should be an opportunity to put Gable over. I think Benjamin is capable of doing just that.

Carmella zeroing in on Natalya

The new Smackdown Women's champion and Ms. Money in the Bank may have been on the same team Tuesday night, but they were not on the same page.

That was because James Ellsworth stupidly let the entire world, including Natalya, know that Carmella had planned on cashing in her contract after their match.

I mean Ellsworth let the entire cat out of the bag. He gave a step-by-step breakdown of Carmella's master plan.

Knowing the plan, Natalya obviously did not fall victim to it and was able to walk out of the Barclays Center with the Smackdown Women's championship in tow.

I assume Naomi and Natalya will have their rematch soon, but I do like the interplay between Carmella and the champion.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.