Below are the complete results from tonight’s episode of SmackDown (which was taped last week).
– AJ Styles kicked off tonight’s SmackDown and expressed his indifference towards Randy Orton and LA Knight’s desire to confront Roman Reigns.
He declared his own interest in facing Reigns at the Royal Rumble. LA Knight interrupted, asserting his claim to Reigns as well. Randy Orton joined the scene, affirming his intention to go after Reigns.
SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis suggested that all three have a case to face Reigns. A match was set for SmackDown New Year’s Revolution on January 5th: Orton vs. Knight vs. Styles, with the winner earning the opportunity to challenge Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Royal Rumble 2024.
Styles warned that he would take out Orton or Knight if they interfered in his match against Solo Sikoa tonight.
– Bianca Belair, Shotzi, “Michin” Mia Yim & Zelina Vega def. Damage CTRL (WWE Women’s Champion IYO SKY, Asuka, Kairi Sane & Bayley) in a Holiday Havoc 8-Woman Tag Team Match
Isla Dawn & Alba Fyre attacked Kairi and Asuka during the match.
– In a backstage segment, Roman Reigns told Paul Heyman to bring Nick Aldis to him.
– Dragon Lee (c) def. Butch to retain the NXT North American Championship
– Nick Aldis came to Roman Reigns’ locker room. Roman told Nick that he’s The Tribal Chief, The Head of the Table and everything goes through him. So, if Nick wants to book a match like Solo Sikoa vs. AJ Styles, then he needs to run it by him first.
Nick said Solo is a big boy and then went on to take a dig at Roman by saying the following:
“He (Solo Sikoa) took care of John Cena in a way I don’t even recall you taking care of John Cena.”
– Kevin Owens def. Carmelo Hayes to reach the finals of the #1 Contenders United States Championship tournament
– The O.C. members Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson and “Michin” Mia Yim met AJ Styles backstage and said they didn’t know Styles was coming back. Karl asked, “are we good?”, and Styles replied, “I don’t know, are we?”
i'm NOT blaming AJ #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/K2KmeibWOL
— V. ✨ (@HaangEmHiigh) December 23, 2023
– The return of Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering was teased during Karrion Kross’ vignette. It looks like Kross & AOP are going to form a faction.
Interesting. pic.twitter.com/fTjqsqQL6n
— WrestleFeed (@WrestleFeedApp) December 23, 2023
– Santos Escobar def. Bobby Lashley to reach the finals of the #1 Contenders United States Championship tournament
Angel Garza & Humberto Carrillo interfered and distracted Lashley, which resulted in Santos picking up the win. It looks like this is going to be another new faction.
– AJ Styles def. Solo Sikoa via DQ when Roman Reigns attacked him
Roman and Solo ganged up on AJ after the match, which led to Randy Orton, LA Knight & Jimmy Uso joining them as well.
Orton, Knight & Styles sent The Bloodline packing, and then they brawled among themselves to end the show.
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