SmackDown Live Winners and Losers: June 12, 2018

Like Raw the night before, SmackDown Live was all about Money in the Bank and getting the blue brand headed towards Sunday's pay-per-view in a positive way. Trying to do so occupied all two hours of the show.

The women and men got their time to build their ladder matches while AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura tried to add fuel to their duel without meeting face to face. Daniel Bryan did away with Shelton Benjamin in a strong match, and Rusev got the nod over a new-look Samoa Joe with The Miz as guest referee. Finally, the women closed out the show with excellent booking decisions that make their match one of the more interesting on the card.

Here are your winners and losers for SmackDown Live, June 12, 2018.

Winner: Bryan vs. Benjamin

The Shelton Benjamin vs Daniel Bryan match was better than anything Raw was able to provide on Monday and these two were just getting going when their match came to a conclusion. It would be nice to see these two get a rematch at some point in the future, but now, this was about getting Bryan to Money in the Bank to take on Big Cass, so a win here was expected.

Still, Benjamin had a good showing and made it clear to every fan watching at home and in attendance, a feud between himself and Bryan would have been so much better than what WWE is offering with Cass.

Loser: AJ Styles

Go-home shows that don't pit the two top stars from the brand against each other are often recipe for disaster and Styles not having any interaction with Nakamura deflated this rivalry a little. An interview with Jerry Lawler just wasn't enough to get fans invested and this was a step backward from the contract signing that happened last week.

Get Styles and Nakamura in the ring and put some heat behind their match. It would be nice to actually see more than just cheeky remarks and some real distaste for Styles' opponent after he was low-blowed for weeks on end.

Winner: Samoa Joe vs. Rusev

This entire segment was creative and fun to watch, giving each WWE Superstar involved a little momentum heading into the pay-per-view on Sunday. Samoa Joe and Rusev put on a strong match, The Miz played the annoying troublemaker and New Day got their contributions in with a little joke to lighten things up.

It was also smart that WWE changed up the outcome a little by not having The Miz take another pin. It was looking like he'd lose his way all the way to a briefcase victory but now, things are uncertain.

Loser: Jeff Hardy

There were rumors that Jeff Hardy was dealing with a pinched nerve in his hand and it looked like it clearly affected his performance. He wasn't his normal self, and while he put up the good fight, it seems evident WWE is going to have to give him some time off to heal whatever is bugging him.

The only way we're wrong here is if this match was intentionally not meant to be all it could be so that these two could meet again down the road. Hardy vs. Nakamura has strong potential, so it would be great if these two got another crack at it.

Winner: 10-Women Tag Match

This match was a strong way to close the show out. The action was solid, the timing was strong and the ending showed that the ladder match on Sunday could go in multiple directions. Predicting a winner at Money In The Bank will be extremely difficult.

If the rules of 50/50 booking apply here, Carmella is not going to lose her title on Sunday, so it will be interesting to see where that puts Asuka next. Also, Lana was the only female in the match who wasn't really showcased which could mean a surprise winner and Lana Day for everyone on Sunday. But, would Lana vs. Carmella be wise? That just screams terrible match.

NEXT: LANA'S HAIR EXTENSIONS GET KICKED OFF HER EHAD BY ASUKA