Posted on 1/17/126 by Bob Magee
– Over a shot of London, England, the voice of Joe Tessitore
greeted us to tonight’s SmackDown. We then got the pre-
requisite arrivals of wrestlers including Randy Orton, The
Miz, Damian Priest, Solo Sikoa, Matt Cardona, Trick
Williams, Ilja Dragunov, and Sami Zayn. Those aforementioned
stars will compete in four separate #1 Contender’s
Qualifying Matches later tonight.
– In the arena, we went to a shot of commentary as Tessitore
was joined by Corey Graves. They discussed the events of
last week’s SmackDown, where we got a new Undisputed WWE
Champion after Drew McIntyre survived Three Stages of Hell.
The new Undisputed WWE Champion arrives
A procession of bagpipe players appeared at the top of the
stage and played a jaunty tune before our new Undisputed WWE
Champion, Drew McIntyre, made his way to loud cheers from
the London crowd. McIntyre himself seemed quite moved by the
fans’ reaction to his victory as he took his time to make
his way to the ring to bask in the cheers. In the ring, he
posed with his title as pyro went off on the stage.
After a while, McIntyre took the mic and said that he prayed
for this and it happened as the fans chanted “you deserve
it” to him. He said that it’s been a rough couple of years
in the U.K., but there’s only one man that can bring
everyone together, that being the first and only British-
born WWE Champion. McIntyre talked about the love and
support he’s received in the past week or so in Europe has
been overwhelming, but… he only had one thing to say about
all that: “screw you”.
McIntyre complained about how nobody was there when he was
fired or when Roman Reigns and the Bloodline were screwing
him over and when CM Punk screwed him over. Drew said that
there was only one person to thank in all of this, and that
person was himself. He then turned his attention to the
former Undisputed WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes, pointing out
that there is no rematch for the title after he had a
provision signed before the Three Stages of Hell match last
week. As McIntyre declared the era of the “Dangerous and
Unpredictable Drew McIntyre” to be here, he was interrupted
by Randy Orton, who got a massive reaction from the Wembley
Arena crowd.
Orton entered the ring as McIntyre said that he assumed
Randy was out to congratulate him. Orton cut right through
it and said that he wasn’t here for that, instead to remind
McIntyre of the time that he declined kick his head through
the announce table a while ago. While McIntyre hesitated,
Orton won’t and he’d take the Undisputed WWE Title courtesy
of the three most dangerous letters in sports entertainment:
R.K.O.
Jacob Fatu’s theme hit, as the man himself made a beeline
for the ring and went after McIntyre right away. The brawl
was on as Fatu went after McIntyre through the crowd.
Meanwhile in the ring, The Miz snuck up on Orton and hit a
Skull-Crushing Finale on him as we’re told that their #1
Contender’s Qualifying match will be up next after the
break.
Interesting opening segment, and McIntyre immediately going
to heeling on the British fans was kind of funny.
**********
#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Randy Orton vs. The Miz
We returned from commercial with the match already in
progress as Miz hit his signature DDT for a two-count. Orton
rolled out of the ring and poked Miz in the eye to gain a
brief advantage. Orton attempted the back drop onto the
announce table, but Miz escaped and hit his own version of
Orton’s announce table slam.
As the action spilled back into the ring, Miz and Orton
exchanged punches to the face to one another before the
latter struck with a hard lariat, followed by the scoop
powerslam. As Miz rolled onto the apron, Orton looked like
he was going to hit his draping DDT, but his opponent
escaped out of it. However, Miz could not avoid the announce
table back drop from Orton this time around. This was then
followed up by another back drop across the table as the
crowd wanted to see it one more time. Orton obliged and
slammed Miz onto the table.
Back into the ring, Orton hit the draping DDT on Miz and
looked like he was about to put an end to things as he
stalked his foe. Orton’s RKO was countered into the Skull-
Crushing Finale by Miz, but that wasn’t enough as Orton
kicked out at two. Miz attempted another SCF, but Orton
escaped it and eventually got the RKO for the three.
Randy Orton def. The Miz via pinfall
Just a standard match with Orton playing his greatest hits
in a match that Miz realistically did not stand a chance in.
The purpose was to get Orton into the Fatal Four-Way match
and I guess job accomplished.
**********
– Backstage, Drew McIntyre skulked about with his Undisputed
WWE Title clutched firmly in his arms. He was confronted by
Ilja Dragunov and called his shot for the title once he
beats Sami Zayn later tonight to advance to the SNME Fatal
Four-Way. McIntyre didn’t have time for it as he was looking
to escape that “mentalist”, Jacob Fatu. He promised to knock
out Dragunov’s teeth at the Rumble if he made it that far.
– We got a Progressive Insurance-sponsored recap of the
Wyatt Sicks/M.F.T.s eight-man tag match from last week.
After that, remarks from The Wyatt Sicks aired as Bo Dallas
stated that the lantern was never meant to be a weapon. He
said that he carried the lantern in the dark so that the
dark didn’t carry them. Dallas said that he and the Wyatts
would not rest until the lantern was home with them as the
video ended.
– Charlotte Flair tried to say hello to her partner Alexa
Bliss, who said that last week suck, on top of her losing
against Giulia and being laid out by Lash Legend & Nia Jax.
Bliss wanted to know if Flair was truly too sick to be at
her side last week. Flair said that she was actually sick,
but that Bliss had a title opportunity that she didn’t.
Flair talked about all the chances at the title she could’ve
had, but she put her and Bliss’s team first. However, Flair
apologized for not being there and said she had Bliss’s back
tonight.
As Nia Jax & Lash Legend tried to stir up trouble, Flair
wasn’t going to have any of it, telling Jax that Bliss was
right in ditching her and that Legend “changed” before
walking off.
Giulia & Kiana James vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair
James and Bliss got the match started for their respective
teams. James gave her opponent a shove before Bliss answered
with a pair of slaps followed by a dropkick. James responded
with a knee to the gut of Bliss before dropping her with a
suplex. Flair was tagged in as she blasted James with a
dropkick. Bliss tagged in again as Flair carried her with an
assisted dropkick on James. Giulia entered the match and
nailed Bliss with a dropkick as she and James celebrated to
take us to the break.
We returned from the break as James & Giulia kept Bliss
isolated in their corner. Bliss avoided an attack in the
corner, which allowed her to make it to her corner to get
the hot tag from Flair. Both Giulia and James fell victim to
chops a-plenty from Flair, as the former WWE Women’s
Champion then hit her somersault clothesline on James. On
the top rope, Flair connected with the crossbody on James
for the near-fall. James attempted a boot to Flair’s face,
but got felled by a boot to her face instead. As Flair
headed up top, Giulia created a distraction to stop her
advance. James hit a nice spinebuster on Flair as Giulia
tagged in and blasted Flair with the Arrivederci knee. The
cover attempt was broken up by Bliss, who then took James
out of the ring.
Inside the ring, Flair and Giulia hit each other with their
best shots as James blind tagged Giulia to enter the match.
Bliss entered the match in a similar manner after a knee
strike from James sent Flair onto the ropes. James ran right
into a Sister Abigail DDT from Bliss for the win.
After the match, Lash Legend and Nia Jax hit the ring and
launched an attack on the victorious team, but not before
Giulia got pushed aside by Jax. This naturally riled up the
Women’s U.S. Champion, who had to be held back by James
before anything could heat up further.
Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair def. Kiana James & Giulia via
pinfall
A fun, if basic tag match. The finish with James running
into the Sister Abigail was nice and the tease of Giulia
maybe wanting to face Nia Jax after the match does add some
needed variety to the SmackDown women’s division, so there’s
that.
**********
– We got a promo from Solo Sikoa and the M.F.T.s, who talked
about how if that the Wyatt Sicks wanted their lantern back,
they should put their tag titles on the line. Sikoa said
that it was only the beginning and that they were going to
go for all the gold. He then concluded that it would start
tonight when he beats Damian Priest and get one step closer
to the WWE Title before mimicking Bray Wyatt’s lantern
blowing out to end the segment.
Cody Rhodes addresses his Undisputed WWE Title loss
The former Undisputed WWE Champion headed to the ring as the
crowd serenaded him with a singalong of his theme, as well
as a smattering of boos.
Rhodes said that things sounded a bit different but it
seemed like things became a lot more “episodic” in his mind
as he’d go through the motions of tapping his fist three
times, the crowd saying “whoa-oh” and then asking them what
they wanted to talk about. The crowd then started chanting
“Oh, Drew McIntyre” as Rhodes continued and said that he
wanted to be not only the company’s champion, but the
people’s champion.
Rhodes talked about how he let things become more episodic
and blind him to all the ways he could’ve lost… or was it
just that Drew McIntyre was just that good? He could ask
that himself, or he could ask Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, or
Steve Austin, all of whom were the only ones who won the
Royal Rumble two times in a row. Rhodes then declared
himself as the first entrant of the 2026 Royal Rumble.
Rhodes then turned his attention to Jacob Fatu. He discussed
how Fatu was on the come up when he saw him in APW. However,
Rhodes said that Fatu should know about the word “receipt”.
He then challenged Fatu to come face him or he could go find
him to beat the brakes off his ass.
Before Rhodes turned around the crowd by putting over his
history in London, I found the crowd booing him to be
interesting. While there’s no realistic way that WWE would
turn the wrestler who’s undoubtedly their “top guy” a heel,
there’s a few ways they could shake things up when it comes
to this post-title run for Rhodes. We’ll just have to see
where this showdown with Fatu will take him.
**********
– Matt Cardona was interviewed about his upcoming match
against Trick Williams in the #1 Contender’s qualifiers.
Cardona talked about how he, like both Cody Rhodes and Drew
McIntyre, left WWE to reinvent themselves. Unlike them,
however, Cardona wasn’t a champion just yet, but he was
looking to change that as he was back on a mission to become
Undisputed WWE Champion.
#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Matt Cardona vs. Trick
Williams
Williams and Cardona locked up in the middle of the ring
before they separated. Williams talked a bit of trash to
Cardona and got hit with a series of strikes from the
veteran that forced him into the corner. Williams responded
with a scoop slam, followed by a running shoulder block that
grounded Cardona.
Williams continued to talk trash, but he was met with a
dropkick and a flatliner from Cardona. A clothesline from
Cardona sent Williams out of the ring, as he then made no
mistake with the dropkick from the apron on Williams. The
match went into a break at this point.
SmackDown returned from the break as we got a replay of what
happened during the break with Williams slamming Cardona
onto the apron, face-first. Back to live action, Williams
pummeled Cardona with elbows to the face followed by a
British Bulldog-style chinlock. Cardona broke the hold, and
caught Williams’ axe kick attempt and hit a back suplex
instead.
Cardona delivered hard strikes in the corner to Williams,
which caused his foe to slump against the bottom turnbuckle.
He then hit the Broski Boot, followed by a Zig-Zag for the
near-fall. Williams missed with a splash in the corner and
ended up in a prone position again, but he avoided the
Broski Boot by rolling out of the ring. Cardona did manage
to get him with a diving kick to the outside. As Cardona got
onto the apron, Williams used the ropes to throw him into
the ring and right into a spinning kick. One, two… NO!
Williams’ attempted suplex was countered, but he avoided the
Rough Ryder. He then followed that with a massive pounce
before he picked up the win on a Trickshot Knee.
Trick Williams def. Matt Cardona via pinfall
This was a decent match, and I’ll admit that I’m enjoying
Trick Williams’ presentation on the main roster so far. Even
though he’s probably not going to be the #1 Contender for
the Undisputed WWE Title, this four-way he’s got himself
into should be a good showcase of Williams’ skills.
**********
– After the match, the infectious theme of Kit Wilson
interrupted, which brought the “international sensation” out
to the ring. Wilson noticed Cardona around ringside and
attacked him. He threw Cardona into the steel steps and
yelled “Toxic!” at him. The crowd chanted along with his
theme song as this segment ended.
– Damian Priest talked about his qualifying match against
Solo Sikoa coming up later tonight and said that like
before, it was one versus all, but he was ready to do
whatever he can to get a shot at the Undisputed WWE Title.
– Back in the ring, Kit Wilson had a mic and talked about
how there was a problem and that he was the solution. He
said that we needed leadership and a tonic for the toxic
masculinity problem. As he was talking, Jacob Fatu snuck up
and attacked Wilson, as the crowd booed. He hit his
moonsault on Wilson as he then demanded a microphone.
Fatu said if Cody Rhodes wanted to say something to his face
that he bring out his punk-ass to the ring right now. Rhodes
obliged Fatu’s challenge and ran straight into the ring. The
two began to brawl as a gaggle of security, as well as
SmackDown GM Nick Aldis entered to separate the two. Rhodes
broke free and jumped right into Fatu as we abruptly went
into another commercial break, as if it were the TNA on AMC
premiere. We learned after the break that we’d see Rhodes
vs. Fatu at Saturday Night’s Main Event next week.
#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Solo Sikoa (w/ The M.F.T.s)
vs. Damian Priest
Sikoa locked Priest in a headlock but was forced out with a
shove. Sikoa headbutted his opponent and punched him in the
face. Priest responded with a jumping kick, followed by a
superkick that sent Sikoa out of the ring. Priest attempted
to hit a running attack, but was stopped by the human wall
created by the M.F.T.s. This allowed Sikoa to get a bit of a
breather. With the ref distracted, Tama Tonga shelled Priest
with a diving clothesline from the steel steps, which took
us into the mid-match break spot.
This match resumed from commercial as Sikoa crushed Priest
with the running hip attack into the corner. Sikoa tried
again with the hip attack, but Priest rose from the corner
and knocked him loopy with a spinning kick. Both men got up
to their feet and traded blows. It turned into an exchange
of kicks as Priest got the better of Sikoa with a running
lariat. Sikoa attempted another Samoan Drop, but got
countered as Priest hit a flatliner for the near-fall.
Priest headed up top as Sikoa was being checked up on the
referee. Talla Tonga tripped Priest up, but he was ejected
by the referee despite his best efforts. Priest recovered
and hit Sikoa with the Razor’s Edge for yet another near-
fall. As Priest had Sikoa in sight for South of Heaven, the
M.F.T.s provided a distraction. This allowed Sikoa to
connect with the Spinning Solo. Dive from the top by Sikoa,
but Priest managed to kick out. The Wyatt Sicks’ video
glitches hit, which heralded the arrival of the group in the
darkness, with Erick Rowan notably absent. The Wyatts
brawled with the M.F.T.s at ringside as Uncle Howdy eyed the
lantern. Sikoa threw Howdy into the steel steps and had the
lantern in his hands. In the ring, Priest caught Sikoa with
the South of Heaven chokeslam for the win to advance to the
SNME Fatal Four-Way.
After the match, Howdy took the lantern in the ring, but got
ambushed from behind by Talla Tonga, who struck Howdy with a
big boot. Talla took the lantern and extracted Sikoa from
the ring.
Damian Priest def. Solo Sikoa via pinfall
The Priest vs. Sikoa match was fine, but the greater
M.F.T.s/Wyatt Sicks feud remains a heatless one for me,
personally. It just hasn’t clicked for me at all since it
started and I’m not sure what can be done to make it
interesting.
**********
– Backstage, Sami Zayn was confronted by Drew McIntyre, who
taunted him for betting on Cody Rhodes next week. Zayn told
McIntyre that he was going to beat Ilja Dragunov tonight,
and then win it in his hometown before heading into the
Royal Rumble. McIntyre reminded Zayn of his losing record
against him, stating that he’s beaten Zayn 11 times and it
wouldn’t change if they got a chance to face each other
again.
U.S. Title Open Challenge: Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Leon Slater
The TNA X-Division Champion was revealed to be Hayes’ Open
Challenge opponent, and was addressed as such in his
entrance.
We started this match hot with fast and furious chain
wrestling between Slater and Hayes. In the corner, Slater
avoided Hayes acrobatically, but got hit with the
springboard clothesline afterwards. Hayes was on the
offensive with chops in the corner, as Slater answered with
a hard chop of his own. The fast start to this match
remained as Hayes got hit with a nice enzuigiri by Slater.
The X-Division Champion kept the momentum with a handspring
back elbow to Hayes, followed by an athletic dive to the
outside. High crossbody by Slater nearly got the win as
Hayes had to kick out at two there, and we went to a
commercial break at that point.
This U.S. Title match resumed from commercial as we saw both
Hayes and Slater down after a springboard Spanish Fly by the
latter during the break. Eventually, both men got back to
their feet and exchanged strikes and chops. Hayes avoided a
sweeping kick from Slater as he connected with La Mistica,
followed by a lifting suplex cutter. One… two, not quite!
Hayes attempted a First 48, but Slater countered that into a
serious single-leg crab. However, Hayes escaped that
maneuver, so Slater got him with a side kick for the near-
fall.
Slater and Hayes fought on the apron, as the challenger hit
an amazing leaping legdrop across the neck., With both men
back in the ring, they got into a duel of pins before Slater
hit a hurricanrana for another close near-fall. Hayes got
sent over the apron as he favored his hurt knee. This
allowed Slater to hit an incredible diving leg drop over the
ringpost and onto Hayes outside the ring.
Back in the ring, Slater headed up top and looked to finish
Hayes off with the 450 Swanton, but the U.S. Champion
avoided disaster and instead got Slater with the First 48.
One, two…. 2.99999999!!!!!!!!! Hayes tried to go up top, but
Slater met him at the pass and looked like he was going to
hit a superplex from the top. Hayes recovered and turned
that into an avalanche cutter for the victory and the
successful U.S. Title defense.
Carmelo Hayes def. Leon Slater via pinfall to retain the
U.S. Championship
This was a fantastic match, as all these U.S. Title
challenge matches have been every week. I’ve made no secret
of how much I love these matches and this one with TNA’s X-
Divsion champion was no exception. However, I do want to
address the fact that Leon Slater, was stated to have been
pulled from the TNA Impact on AMC premiere last night due to
travel issues, which doesn’t seem to be a promising sign
when it comes to TNA’s seeming autonomy in this partnership
with WWE moving forward.
**********
– Shinsuke Nakamura was seen watching the match we just saw
before Tama Tonga confronted him. Tama said that Nakamura
had his chance, and it was his time to take the U.S. Title
for the M.F.T.s. He warned Nakamura to stay out of his way
as he brought up their past in New Japan. Nakamura
responded, seemingly not afraid of Tama’s threat.
– Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae discussed amongst
themselves about their brilliant ploy against Fraxiom. He
was confronted by Axiom, before another person in an Axiom
mask appeared. Gargano got waylaid by the second person in
Axiom’s mask, who revealed himself to be Nathan Frazer. We
found out that Frazer went to Nick Aldis earlier and got
himself a match booked against Gargano for next week.
Chelsea Green (w/ Alba Fyre) vs. Jordynne Grace
Jade Cargill was at ringside to watch this match.
Grace showed off her power by pushing Green down fiercely.
Grace connected with a powerful spinebuster on one half of
the AAA Mixed Tag Champions before she hit a nice stalling
suplex. Green got momentum on her side by pulling at Grace’s
hair and shoving her into the corner. While the referee was
distracted, Alba Fyre hit Grace with a superkick, as Green
then slammed her face down.
Green’s momentum was all too fleeting as she was slammed
across the turnbuckle multiple times by Grace. A barrage of
clotheslines from Grace kept her advantage, as did the
suplex. Grace finally got the win with the Direct Effect — a
cartwheel/Death Valley Driver hybrid maneuver — and the
three.
After the match, Grace addressed Cargill as she said that
she was glad the champ was glad at ringside to watch her.
Grace challenged Cargill to step into the ring right here
and right now. Cargill got on the apron and faced off with
Grace. Meanwhile, Green attempted to run at Grace, but
whiffed badly as she barreled into Cargill instead. The WWE
Women’s Title clattered onto the mat, as Grace picked it up
in her hands and taunted Cargill with it before throwing it
out of the ring.
Jordynne Grace def. Chelsea Green via pinfall
A short contest meant to showcase Grace’s strengths, and I
think they did an admirable job with that. This feud with
Jade Cargill should help add much needed variety to
SmackDown’s women’s division, which has been lagging at the
top as of late. I’m looking forward to it.
**********
– Trick Williams was interviewed about advancing to the SNME
Fatal Four-Way as Damian Priest then appeared and seemingly
issued a challenge to face him one-on-one next week.
Next Week on SmackDown
Women’s Tag Title #1 Contenders’ Triple Threat Match: Giulia
& Kiana James vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax
& Lash Legend
WWE Tag Team Championship: The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis &
Joe Gacy) vs. The M.F.T.s
Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest
#1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov
Zayn and Dragunov didn’t waste time and started right away
with dueling strikes. After he withstood a strike to his
knee from Dragunov, Zayn cracked his foe with a clothesline.
In the corner, Dragunov beckoned Zayn to hit him harder, to
which the Canadian obliged. Dragunov answered with a hard
boot to the face before he took voer with a chop in the
corner to Zayn, followed by the running boot to the side of
Zayn.
Dragunov dropped the knee from the top rope to the sternum
of Zayn. Another attempt at the diving knee was avoided by
Zayn, who countered with a suplex for a near-fall. Zayn
slowed the pace of the match down as he punched at Dragunov
for a bit. Both men traded German suplexes through a
struggle of standing switches. Dragunov got the better of
Zayn with one last German suplex in this exchange as he
headed up top. Zayn got up and intercepted Dragunov at the
top. Through a long struggle, Zayn hit the superplex as both
men were left down and we were left with one final break in
the action.
SmackDown’s main event continued as Zayn again tried to go
to the top rope. Dragunov, who was busted open by a
particularly hard shot from Zayn during the break, met him
at the pass. Zayn got the better of Dragunov and hit a
sunset flip powerbomb, but that wasn’t enough to get the
win. Not yet. Dragunov countered a Blue Thunder Powerbomb
from Zayn and turned it around into a Constantine Special.
Dragunov headed to the top and hit the missile dropkick on
Zayn for the near-fall.
With Zayn down and out, Dragunov had him in sight for the H-
Bomb. A last-second boot saved Zayn as he looked for the
corner exploder suplex. Dragunov shelled him with a kick, as
he followed it with a pair of running clotheslines into the
corner. Zayn recovered and tried to follow Dragunov with the
Helluva Kick, but he missed badly on that. Both men fought
on the apron, as Dragunov landed Torpedo Moscow and they
both came crashing down onto the mat outside the ring.
As Zayn and Dragunov entered the ring, the latter hit the
powerbomb on his opponent and headed to the top once more.
Dragunov’s senton attempt was met by a knee from Zayn that
hit the back of his neck. Zayn capitalized with the exploder
suplex into the corner, followed by the Helluva Kick and the
three. This rounded out our Fatal Four Way for Saturday
Night’s Main Event.
After the match, Trick Williams attacked Zayn from behind
with a cheap shot. He took Zayn out with the Trick Shot knee
as the Levesque & Fitting producer credits saw us out on
this week’s SmackDown.
Sami Zayn def. Ilja Dragunov via pinfall
Saturday Night’s Main Event in Montreal card so far
Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender’s Fatal Four-Way:
Randy Orton vs. Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest vs. Sami
Zayn
Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu
**********
The outcome of that main event was a bit of a formality
given Saturday Night’s Main Event being in Zayn’s hometown,
but it didn’t make it any less enjoyable. It’s always a
treat seeing Dragunov and Zayn get into a hard-hitting
battle, and we got plenty of hard hits in that main event.
As for the rest of the show, it’s actually astonishing how
watchable these three-hour SmackDowns have been. They’ve
been far from the terribly middling shows I’ve recapped for
the latter half of 2025, and it’s honestly made things a bit
more enjoyable. I mentioned Ryan Ward last week now
reportedly overseeing creative on SmackDown and I have to
say he’s done a good job.
The U.S. Title scene is far and away the shining star of
SmackDown, but things like Drew McIntyre as undisputed WWE
Champion throwing a wrench into rumored WrestleMania 42
plans, Trick Williams getting a big spotlight, and steadily
improving women’s division have been nice to see. The
otherwise dull M.F.T.s/Wyatt Sicks feud — and the side-
effect of it holding the tag titles hostage — is about the
only thing I generally hate about SmackDown since the move
to three hours.
So, yes, it’s 3-for-3 in terms of the three-hour SmackDown
shows being watchable, and let’s hope that they can keep it
up.