WWE Friday Night SmackDown Review: 16/01
- Linus O'Howell
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Drew McIntyre Returns Home as Champion, Randy Orton VS The Miz: Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Qualifying Match
This week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown kicked off with a Championship Celebration as Drew McIntyre returned to the UK as the brand-new Undisputed WWE Champion! Drew was rightly cheered and congratulated by the WWE Universe, but Drew didn’t want their applause, as they weren’t there for him when he got released all those years ago! This brought out Randy Orton, who stated that he will be taking the WWE Championship off Drew at the Royal Rumble, before Jacob Fatu arrived to simply attack McIntyre! This was a very nice moment for Drew McIntyre to have; it’s completely deserved, but I cannot stress enough how much I don’t want to see McIntyre-Orton again!
Grade: B
After attacking him before the match had started, The Miz looked to defeat Randy Orton to advance to Saturday Night’s Main Event in the opening contest of the night! This was pretty standard stuff, with Miz doing some Heel things whilst Randy came across as the far superior talent! The Miz’s closest moment came when he delivered a second Skull-Crushing Finale, but in the end, Orton picked The A-Lister off with an RKO!
Grade: C+
Giulia and Kiana James VS Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, Cody Rhodes Promo, Matt Cardona VS Trick Williams: Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Qualifying Match
After Ilja Dragunov sent out a warning to Drew McIntyre, Uncle Howdy made it clear that The Wyatt Sick6 won’t stop until they reclaim their sacred lantern! After Charlotte Flair told Alexa Bliss that she was well and truly sick last week, “Charlexa” were back in action as they took on the business duo of Giulia and Kiana James! Giulia and Kiana are both talented; I think they work quite well together, but every week we’re saying the same things about the crowd not caring in the slightest! Mostly, that’s because WWE crowds can suck at times, but even still, Giulia won’t ever reach her full potential unless the crowd starts to care (which sucks)! Alexa and Charlotte looked fine together, and they eventually scored the win after Bliss nailed James with a Sister Abigail! After the match was over, Lash Legend and Nia Jax attacked Bliss and Flair from behind, which interestingly resulted in Giulia getting in the face of Jax! Kiana did the smart thing by pulling The Beautiful Madness away from the situation, but that’s definitely one to keep an eye on!
Grade: C+
After Solo Sikoa said something along the lines of “Bray Wyatt’s going to be with me when I become Undisputed WWE Champion”, Cody Rhodes arrived to a very mixed reaction! Cody talked about how he possibly became too complacent in his position, too predictable, and that cost him! However, Rhodes is going to quickly change that by winning the Royal Rumble for a record-equalling third time! Also, The American Nightmare called out Jacob Fatu, stating that whatever happens moving forward, Fatu is going to receive one giant receipt courtesy of the former Undisputed WWE Champion! I thought this was actually quite a decent promo from Cody!
Grade: B-
The next match of the night was another Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Qualifying Match as two of SmackDown’s newest stars faced off! Both Matt Cardona and Trick Williams could’ve done with a win here, given they’ve only just arrived on/returned to the Main Roster, but that clearly wasn’t the direction that WWE wanted to go in! The match itself was pretty solid; the crowd were massively behind Trick, and that’s honestly a massive positive because it can sometimes take a while for the Main Roster crowd to understand NXT stars like the NXT Universe does! In the end, Williams was able to score the win after nailing Cardona with a Trick Shot, and I personally feel like that was the right call!
Grade: C+
Kit Wilson Appears, Damian Priest VS Solo Sikoa: Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Qualifying Match
After attacking Matt Cardona in the entranceway, Kit Wilson cut an in-ring promo talking about how toxic everyone is, and that he’s the savour that SmackDown needs! This resulted in Jacob Fatu arriving to destroy Kit, before Fatu called out Cody Rhodes, resulting in a brawl breaking out between the two of them! Now, ordinally, I wouldn’t usually grade segments this short, but I have to make an exception for this as the crowd were fully behind Kit Wilson, and Trick Williams’ reaction was incredible!
Grade: B+
Damian Priest was then out next as he looked to get back into Title contention when he took on Solo Sikoa in another Qualifying Match! This was another solid match; what I found interesting was the crowd seemed to be a lot more behind Solo, and I don’t think that’s ever happened before! Despite that, the main focus of this match was surrounding the outside of the ring as the rest of the MFTs were looking after “Solo’s” lantern! Eventually, The Wyatt Sick6 appeared to take all of the Heels out, and this resulted in Sikoa becoming more interested in keeping the lantern than he was in winning the match! As a result, Priest scored the win with South of Heaven! After the match was over, Uncle Howdy tried to reclaim his precious lantern, but he just got floored by Talla Tonga (who wasn’t at ringside when The Wyatts first appeared)!
Grade: C+
Carmelo Hayes’ United States Championship Open Challenge, Chelsea Green VS Jordynne Grace
After Sami Zayn told Drew McIntyre that once he earns his way to the Royal Rumble, the result between the two of them will finally change, Carmelo Hayes made his way down to the ring to host another United States Championship Open Challenge! The call was answered by none other than the reigning TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater, with the London crowd cheering on their home country star! This was definitely the match of the night, no question in my mind, and it’s very much starting to feel like we’re now getting the NXT version of Carmelo Hayes, at least in-ring wise! Melo has always been one of the best wrestlers in the entire company, WWE just hasn’t allowed him to be that on the Main Roster (for some reason), but I’m glad that’s started to change now we’re in 2026! Leon Slater also looked great; that kid is a star, and this very much felt like an NXT-style matchup! After many great moments, eventually, Hayes was able to grab the win with a super cutter from the top rope, and honestly, if Carmelo’s going to have this Title for a while, he should win in different ways (this all gets a massive tick from me)!
Grade: B+
After Tama Tonga gave Shinsuke Nakamura his one and only warning regarding the United States Championship, Jordynne Grace was ready to demolish another talent as she went one-on-one with Chelsea Green! Now, in fairness to Chelsea, she did get more offense in than Alba Fyre did last week, and this match was also probably longer! However, Jordynne was still pretty dominant, with The Juggernaut scoring another relatively straightforward victory (with another new finisher), before she sent out a warning to one Jade Cargill! The segment then ended with Chelsea accidentally running into Jade (as Grace got out of the way), and I can’t see that going down particularly well for Ms. Green!
Grade: C
Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Qualifying Match: Ilja Dragunov VS Sami Zayn
After Damian Priest came face-to-face with Trick Williams, it was Main Event time as Ilja Dragunov and Sami Zayn faced off for the right to be the final entrant into the Undisputed WWE Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match, which will take place at Saturday Night’s Main Event next week! I thought this was a good contest; it lacked in comparison to their US Title contest back in October, but it was still good! Ilja got busted open like always; I swear he does it on purpose, whilst the storyline is there for Sami to head to the Royal Rumble to challenge Drew McIntyre in Saudi Arabia! As a result, Dragunov was always probably going to lose this match, and I don’t think that’s a thing that should keep on happening much going forward! Eventually, Sami was able to pin The Mad Dragon after delivering a Helluva Kick, but Zayn would end up getting floored by Trick Williams, meaning SmackDown in London ended with Trick Willy standing tall!
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