WWE Smackdown
Date: January 26, 2024
Location: Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Corey Graves, Michael Cole
It’s the go-home show for the Royal Rumble and that means it is time for the final push to the show. There’s a good chance we’ll get some more names added to the Royal Rumble matches, as there are less than twenty entrants out of the sixty spots in two matches. The Women’s Tag Team Titles are on the line tonight too so let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week’s main event, with Roman Reigns jumping Randy Orton after the match but getting taken out with an RKO to end the show.
Here is Eladio Carrion, a rapper from Puerto Rico who has released a song called RKO, with the music video featuring Randy Orton. He wastes no time in bringing out Orton, who greets a fan on the way to the ring. Orton knows the fans are surprised he’s friends with Carrion but it’s time to get to serious business. That would be the Bloodline because Roman Reigns has been World Champion for almost 1,300 days.
It’s almost unheard of and no one can stop him….except maybe Orton himself. After tomorrow at the Royal Rumble, he’ll be a fifteen-time World Champion and that is the only number that matters. Cue AJ Styles, who was taken out by Solo Sikoa last week. He hasn’t forgotten about Orton though, because Orton has a receipt coming. Styles is going to step over Reigns, Orton, and…cue LA Knight to interrupt.
The fans seem happy to see him, with Knight calling both of them dummy. Knight finds it interesting that he is the only one in tomorrow’s four-way who has a match (against Sikoa) tonight. That’s because Paul Heyman sees him as the biggest threat but tomorrow he’s coming for the title and stepping over all of them. Styles Pele’s Orton to give him the promised receipt to wrap this up.
Carlito vs. Santos Escobar
The LWO and Legado del Fantasma are here too. Carlito hammers away in the corner to start but gets sent into the buckle. Escobar sends him out to the apron, with a Legado distraction letting him get knocked outside. We take a break and come back with Escobar getting two off a clothesline. A super hurricanrana takes Carlito down again and we hit the seated abdominal stretch.
Carlito fights up and hits a dropkick, followed by a rolling neckbreaker for two. The running knee lift and a clothesline put Escobar down and everyone gets in a brawl on the floor. Del Toro hits a huge dive and here is NXT’s Elektra Lopez (formerly part of Legado) to jump Zelina Vega, allowing Escobar to grab a rollup for the pin at 9:49.
Rating: C+. This was about giving Legado one more member to even things up with the LWO, but again this was all about keeping Escobar warm before his big showdown with Rey Mysterio, whenever it comes up. Escobar is being built up rather well and having Lopez around is only going to make things better for him.
Commentary talks about Raw moving to Netflix in January.
AJ Styles runs into Jimmy Uso and suggests that Styles help the Bloodline get rid of LA Knight tonight. Uso leaves and the OC comes in, with Styles saying don’t worry about it.
NXT GM Ava comes in to see Nick Aldis but Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits interrupt. Lashley gets to draw his Royal Rumble number when Legado del Fantasma come in. Escobar draws his number as well.
Video on Bayley, who creates history and is ready to do it again. Then she formed Damage CTRL and they’re taking over.
R-Truth draws a Royal Rumble number and thinks Nick Aldis is Adam Pearce.
Women’s Tag Team Titles: Kabuki Warriors vs. Kayden Carter/Katana Chance
Carter/Chance are defending. Carter rolls Asuka up for two to start and it’s Chance hitting a slingshot hilo for two of her own. Chance takes both of them out with a slingshot dive to the floor and we take a break. Back with Chance in trouble but managing to send Sane outside. Carter comes back in and dives onto both Warriors to drop them on the floor.
A springboard-spinning legdrop gets two on Asuka but she hands it back to Sane. Everything breaks down but the Insane Elbow hits raised boots. The Keg Stand gets two on Asuka, who breaks up the After Party. Asuka kicks Carter in the head though and the Insane Elbow gives us new champions at 9:03.
Rating: B-. This was a better match than I was expecting but at the end of the day, there was no reason to keep the titles on Carter and Chance. They were pretty much transitional champions but dropped the titles to one of the best teams the titles have ever seen. It was the right way to go and now we get to see where things go from here.
Paul Heyman tells Solo Sikoa to finish LA Knight. Sikoa: “Ok.” With Sikoa gone, Heyman hypes up the idea of Jimmy us winning the Royal Rumble.
Bayley and Bianca Belair draw their Royal Rumble numbers.
Here are Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits for a face-to-face showdown with the Final Testament. Lashley runs down their resume and calls the Testament out, with the team coming straight to the ring. Only Scarlet gets in the ring though, with Montez Ford calling the team scared. Karrion Kross says the fight isn’t happening tonight…but Lashley disagrees. Scarlet goes after Lashley’s eyes though and the Testament lays everyone out.
Jimmy Uso draws his Royal Rumble number. No yeet.
We look back at Logan Paul on the KO Show, with Paul further damaging Owens’ bad hand. Then they got into a fight at the Performance Center.
Carmelo Hayes vs. Austin Theory
Grayson Waller is here with Theory. A dropkick takes Theory down to start and a springboard-spinning clothesline does it again. Theory gets in a cheap shot to put Hayes on the floor though and Waller adds a cheap shot as we take a break. Back with Hayes making a comeback and hitting something like a….reverse reverse DDT (as in Theory is facing up while Hayes is facing away from him). A spinning faceplant gives Hayes two but another Waller distraction sets up Ataxia (Theory loads him up for a powerbomb but flips him backward into a faceplant). They trade rollups until Theory grabs the tights for the pin at 6:58.
Rating: C+. This was a way to make up after things went really badly two weeks ago. It’s good to see Hayes getting more reps on the show as he seems almost ready to move up to the main roster full-time. It wouldn’t shock me to see him as a post-Wrestlemania call-up, but he has to get done with everything involving Trick Williams first. For now, though, losing to Theory via cheating isn’t a bad thing and the match went well enough.
Post match Waller comes in for the beatdown but Trick Williams makes the save to a positive reaction. Things still aren’t great with Hayes and Williams though (it’s an NXT thing).
Royal Rumble rundown, with only four matches.
Eladio Carrion wants Randy Orton to win the title at the Rumble but the Bloodline comes in to scare him a bit.
LA Knight vs. Solo Sikoa
The Bloodline is here too. Sikoa takes him into the corner to start and hammers away but Knight gets smart by going after the leg. A stomp to the hand slows Sikoa down again and a ram into the steps makes it worse. Back in and a cheap shot takes Knight down again and we take a break.
We come back with Knight charging into a Samoan drop for two but getting a boot up in the corner. The middle rope bulldog takes Sikoa down again and Knight gets to slug away. A DDT only does so much to Sikoa so they crash out to the floor, where Knight can ram him into the announcers’ table over and over. Cue AJ Styles to take Knight out for the DQ at 8:40.
Rating: C+. Not exactly a great match here but I appreciate not giving Knight a pinfall loss, or a loss of any kind before he heads on to the Royal Rumble. It’s important to keep him strong, especially with the real possibility of Knight being there to take the pinfall. The match was a lot of punching and kicking, but Knight going after the hand made sense.
Post-match Styles teases teaming with Jimmy Uso against Knight but goes after Uso instead. Cue Randy Orton to take out the Bloodline and hit an RKO on Styles to….not end the show, as LA Knight gives Orton the BFT to really end the show.
Results
Santos Escobar b. Carlito – Rollup
Kabuki Warriors b. Kayden Carter/Katana Chance – Insane Elbow to Carter
Austin Theory b. Carmelo Hayes – Rollup with tights
LA Knight b. Solo Sikoa via DQ when AJ Styles interfered
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7.0
The final score: reviewGood
The 411
This was a good enough show that focused on the World Title match, which is what it needed to be. There was nothing on here worth going out of your way to see but it also didn’t do anything that made me less interested in the Rumble. The Rumble is such a weird show in that there are only four matches on the card with two of them being a mixture of wrestlers from all three shows. That leaves the US Title match, which got time last week, and the World Title match, which got time this week. Nice, to the point show.
