WWE SmackDown Results: Biggest Winners, Losers and Moments from January 15, 2015

The return of Daniel Bryan to in-ring action highlighted WWE SmackDown's return to Thursday nights. Not only did he battle the Corporate Demon Kane, but he also participated in a huge Six-Man Tag Team main event, which came about as a result of the scheduled singles bout.

There were a number of questions surrounding exactly what fans would see out of the former WWE world heavyweight champion. Thankfully, answers were plentiful—and more than a little surprising when all was said and done.

The advocate for WWE world heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, also made an appearance Thursday night. Enraged over the Curb Stomp heard 'round the world, he addressed Mr. Money in the Bank Seth Rollins, who made it a point to interrupt the founder of extreme.

What unfolded between them may shake the very foundation of WWE for months to come.

With WWE tag team champions The Usos and Divas champion Nikki Bella in action, not to mention a huge Intercontinental Championship match pitting Bad News Barrett against Sin Cara, this week's episode of SmackDown had more energy and excitement surrounding it than a typical Blue Brand broadcast.

Who left the show seizing momentum heading into the Royal Rumble and who faltered?

Let's take a look.

Credit: WWE.com

Winner: Daniel Bryan

As mentioned above, the leader of the Yes Movement made his much-anticipated return to the ring Thursday night, as he squared off in an advertised match against Kane. Though he looked good enough during that bout, it would not be until the Six-Man Tag Team bout later in the broadcast that fans would get to see just what the surgically repaired Bryan would bring to the table.

Unleashing suicide dives, corner dropkicks and a top-rope hurricanrana, Bryan looked like he had not missed a beat. In fact, despite missing eight months of in-ring action, he appeared to be more comfortable between the ropes than some guys who wrestled each and every night over that span.

That the fans embraced him as loudly and as passionately as they did proves that, no matter how long he's gone from the ring, there is still no denying the connection he has with the WWE Universe.

It will be incredibly difficult for WWE Creative to book anyone but Bryan to win the Rumble and still manage to please the audience.

Credit: WWE.com

Losers: The Usos, The Miz and Damien Mizdow

How many times does WWE Creative have to book these four in the same match before completely burning its audience out on the program?

The involvement of Naomi and Alicia Fox did nothing to freshen up what has become an incredibly boring, repetitive story. Add to it the fact that the nonsense with Naomi went absolutely nowhere, and you have a fumbling, bumbling storyline that should have concluded the minute Jimmy and Jey beat the so-called Hollywood A-lister and his stunt-double for the WWE Tag Team Championships.

Unfortunately, fans will have another week of watching these four wrestle in singles and tag team action before they clash for the tag titles at the Royal Rumble.

Given the lack of depth in the tag team division, would it surprise anyone if WWE Creative tried to stretch the program out for another month as Fast Line approaches this February?

Credit: WWE.com

Winners: Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman

Yes, the new year is only 16 days old, but the best segment of WWE television thus far in 2015 came Thursday night when Paul Heyman was confronted by Seth Rollins.

Why, you may ask? Because it made sense and, more importantly, created a compelling and interesting scenario for WWE programming going forward.

Rollins claimed that by Curb Stomping Paul Heyman, he would take away Brock Lesnar's greatest asset. He argued that without Heyman by his side, Lesnar was mortal. It was a valid argument, especially given the fact that Lesnar lost his first match back with WWE in 2012, a match against John Cena in which Heyman was nowhere to be found.

Heyman, always outstanding at using his gift of gab to try and diffuse a situation, brought up the idea that The Authority is not as powerful or almighty as they like to think themselves to be. He convinced Rollins that with every passing day, he is acquiring more and more power, which is directly linked to Brock Lesnar's "death grip" on the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

"He can control that power by defending the championship, or he can protect the champion when I decide the future is now," Heyman told Rollins, forcing him to contemplate whether he really wants to go all-in with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon or if he wants to possibly align himself with Heyman.

It was a great angle that, when revisited, makes it even more difficult to imagine it came from the same WWE Creative team that has been responsible for such underwhelming television over the last handful of months.