On this day in SmackDown history – December 26th – Dolph Ziggler relinquishes United States Championship 

This year’s episode of WWE SmackDown fell on Christmas Eve, meaning the company opted to pre-record. This wasn’t the case four years ago when the fate of the United States Championship hung in the balance.

The week before Christmas Dolph Ziggler told the WWE Universe that they didn’t deserve him and left it in the middle of the ring before making his exit. Interestingly, this wasn’t questioned and just a week later, Daniel Bryan announced that the title was now vacant.

WWE Clash of Champions 2017 results: Dolph Ziggler wins the U.S. championship

WWE Clash of Champions 2017 results: Dolph Ziggler wins the U.S. championship https://t.co/U4GbOwZJ5Q

Not only that, but there would be a tournament to crown a new champion as well. Dolph Ziggler wasn’t seen in WWE again until the Royal Rumble match around four weeks later. Ziggler was the surprise entrant at number 30 but was quickly eliminated by Finn Balor.

Maryse won a major title on SmackDown on Boxing Day

Maryse is currently part of a storyline alongside her husband The Miz and Edge but there was a time when the star was seen as a solo competitor.

Ahead of her first WWE departure in 2011, Maryse was able to lift the Divas Championship on a number of occasions. The first time came on the December 26th episode of SmackDown in 2008. It aired on tape delay which meant that Maryse actually won the title on December 22nd.

The star was able to defeat Michelle McCool to lift the title and later went on to hold it for 216 days, which was a record at the time.

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AJ Lee and Nikki Bella are the only two women to beat this record in the eight years that the title remained active following Maryse’s reign. The title was officially retired in April 2016 when the company removed the term Diva and decided that the women would now be referred to as superstars as well.

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