WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From January 17

Doc-Chris Mueller@@BR_DoctorFeatured Columnist IVJanuary 18, 2025

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3. Solo Sikoa.SmackDown.
4. Welcome to Bleacher Report’s live coverage of WWE SmackDown on January 17.
5. With the Royal Rumble fast approaching, WWE is in full planning mode for the PLE. However, it still had three hours to fill on Friday night. Here is a look at what was advertised for the blue brand this week:

• Bayley vs. Tiffany Stratton
• Solo Sikoa returns to SmackDown
• Nia Jax and Candice LeRae vs. Bianca Belair and Naomi
• Motor City Machine Guns vs. Los Garzas

1. Let’s take a look at everything that happened on this week’s SmackDown.
2. Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett welcomed us to the show by walking through the back and into the crowd as they talked about the arena.
3. Rey Mysterio came out to a big ovation and 619 chants to announce he would be competing in the 2025 Royal Rumble. He ran down the stacked list of entrants and reminisced about winning the Rumble in 2006.
4. Kevin Owens interrupted him and they got into an argument about KO being delusional about being the champion. Rey said he was acting like Dominik and that caused a fight.
5. This was a pretty standard promo and fight to build to a future match. KO has long been a vocal fan of Mysterio and is often seen wearing his shirts, so it could be an interesting feud.
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8. SmackDown. WWE
9. The first match of the night saw Naomi and Belair take on Jax and LeRae in a non-title tag bout.
10. The EST and Poison Pixie started things off for their team with a standard sequence. The match ended up going to a break very soon after it began. Jax helped LeRae take control during the picture-in-picture sequence.
11. The champs began to make a comeback after we returned. Belair hit a huge flying crossbody to take down Jax before Naomi came in to keep up the offense.
12. The upper hand shifted a few times, but Jax hitting a leg drop on her own partner by mistake is what sealed the outcome. Naomi finished LeRae off with a Bubba Bomb for the pin and the win.
13. The crowd was really into this one and chanted “This is awesome” during the final minutes. All four women put in some good work to make this a solid outing. It would have made more sense for the titles to be on the line, but that is a small quibble.
14. Result: Belair and Naomi defeated Jax and Belair
15. Notable Moments and Observations

• Cody Rhodes refused to sign a contract to face KO until Owens had signed it. 
• LeRae is so short that Belair looked weird doing the mounted punches in the corner. 
• Naomi’s slingshot facebuster looked good. 

1. A backstage moment on last week’s show led to Jimmy Uso taking on Carmelo Hayes this week. Jimmy received a nice reaction when he made his entrance.
2. Melo talked some trash on his way to the ring, so Jimmy brought him into the ring the hard way from the apron to get the match started.
3. Hayes quickly escaped the ring to avoid a superkick and regroup. They battled through a break into the next segment and put on a physical match that incorporated both of their unique styles well.
4. Hayes was on point with all of his high-flying moves, and Jimmy played a great base for him while getting his own stuff in, too.
5. Unfortunately, like many matches involving anyone from either Bloodline, this match ended in a disqualification. Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga attacked Jimmy while the ref just watched on helplessly.
6. The match was good, but the ending felt cheap and repetitive. Hayes was taken down by Fatu when he tried to form an alliance. WWE has made the Bloodline story last longer than anyone could have expected, and unfortunately, it’s starting to feel like it’s running on fumes.
7. Notable Moments and Observations

• Piper Niven was acting like Chelsea Green’s secret service agent backstage and it was hilarious. 
• Jey had a lot more opportunities to shine as a solo act, but Jimmy is incredibly entertaining. He has a fun-loving side that comes out a lot. 
• The apron suplex Melo took looked painful. He didn’t land square. 
• Jimmy’s popup Samoan drop was awesome. 

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4. Sikoa showed up after Jimmy took a beating, but he didn’t say a single word. He just ended up leaving through the crowd as Tonga and Fatu looked on confused.
5. Fatu picked up the mic and delivered a short but intense promo before LA Knight showed up. He attacked them from behind and had the upper hand for about 30 seconds before they teamed up on him. Brain Strowman came down to make the save and had a confrontation with Fatu, but it ended in anticlimactic fashion with Fatu and Tonga leaving.
6. Next up was a tag match with Angelo and Berto taking on Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley. Elektra Lopez was at ringside but Santos Escobar opted to remain backstage.
7. Shelley and Angel had a nice exchange to get the action going, and Angel continued to control the pace after tagging in.
8. Both teams looked really good in this match. Tag team wrestling can be some of the most exciting pro wrestling, and teams like this are why.
9. The pace was quick, the strikes were stiff and the team-based spots were executed with precision. In fact, this was one of the best tag bouts Los Garzas has been a part of in quite some time.
10. Pretty Deadly showed up and tried to help Los Garzas, but they were unsuccessful. Shellye and Sabin scored the win to end a really fun match that everyone should take the time to see.
11. Result: MCMG defeated Los Garzas
12. Notable Moments and Observations

• Fatu and Strowman are going to have a fun match eventually. The crowd was hyped for their confrontation. 
• Joe Tess talked about the partnership with WWE and TNA during MCMG’s entrance. 
• Angel and Berto are so smooth in the ring. It’s a shame WWE hasn’t done more with them. 
• Berto showed a lot of strength holding Shelley and Sabin up at the same time. 

1. Earlier in the show, B-Fab challenged Piper Niven to a match during a backstage segment in the women’s locker room. Chelsea Green accompanied Niven to the ring but B-Fab was unaccompanied.
2. Green tried to distract B-Fab to give her friend an advantage, but she saw it coming and took control. She hit a swinging neckbreaker for a quick two-count right away.
3. B-Fab was giving up a lot of size and power, but her height and speed allowed her to maintain the upper hand longer than expected against the powerhouse.
4. Green got under B-Fab’s skin and caused her to take too long getting back into the ring, which allowed Niven to hit a senton followed by her finisher for the win.
5. This was quick and didn’t have much to it, but what we saw wasn’t bad. Michin showed up with a kendo stick and attacked Niven while Green kept her distance.
6. Result: Niven defeated B-Fab
7. Notable Moments and Observations

• Kevin Owens refused to sign the same contract Cody refused to sign earlier in the show. He was also wearing a Rey Mysterio HOF shirt just to add insult to injury. 
• Barrett made sure to mention that B-Fab has been training with Natalya. You can see the improvements she has made. 

1. After getting into a fight during the opening segment, Mysterio and Owens met for a singles match.
2. They were pacing themselves and trying to make each move count, but it ended up leading to a somewhat lackluster beginning.
3. The first couple of minutes were a bit slow, but once Owens countered a headscissor and hit a senton, the intensity picked up.
4. While they did a good job putting on a solid match, it felt like they were holding back a lot. We know what these two can do, especially against opponents of their caliber, so it was a little surprising. It was good, just not as good as it should have been.
5. Owens knocked the ref into the ropes to make Rey lose his balance, which allowed KO to hit the Popup Powerbomb for the pin and the win.
6. It looked like KO was going to show Rey some respect, but he attacked him instead. Rhodes ran down and began brawling with The Prize Fighter until officials broke up the fight.
7. Result: Owens defeated Mysterio
8. Notable Moments and Observations

• WWE had a nice tribute video for Bob Uecker. 
• Rey’s sliding splash is one of those moves that seems so simple but you don’t see many people doing it. 
• Owens always throws himself into ring posts just a little bit harder than most people. It makes the impact look great. 

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3. SmackDown. WWE
4. This week’s main event saw Stratton defend the WWE Women’s Championship against Bayley. The match got started with almost exactly 20 minutes left in the show, so they had some decent time to work.
5. The former world champion backed Tiffy to the corner and made a clean break, so the champ returned the favor when she came out on top.
6. They were getting pretty physical right away and the show cut to the first break with Bayley knocking Stratton to the floor.
7. Tiffy regained the upper hand and slowed the pace down a bit after we returned from the commercial. She was doing her best to focus on Bayley’s left arm with most of her offense.
8. This was a strong performance from both competitors, but most importantly, it helped solidify Stratton as the champion by making her look good against one of WWE’s most decorated women’s champions.
9. Roxanne Perez was in the crowd and had a staredown with Bayley at one point, but she didn’t interfere. Stratton scored the win with her Prettiest Moonsault Ever to cap off the show.
10. Result: Stratton defeated Bayley
11. Notable Moments and Observations

• Bayley’s entrance music could use an update. Her current song worked great when she was a heel. 
• Stratton keeps getting good reactions but she has yet to fully transition to being a babyface. It seems like WWE doesn’t know if it wants to make the turn yet. 
• The way Bayley sold being tripped on the apron was great. She fell face first like Ric Flair used to do when he would act like he was able to keep fighting and would just fall flat on his face. 

1. SmackDown being three hours is still taking some getting used to, but whether the show is two or three hours, the main concern is always the quality of the show.
2. While this week’s show had a couple of highlights, very little of what we saw felt like must-see TV.
3. The two best things we saw all night were the tag match between Los Garzas and MCMG and the women’s title bout that closed the show.
4. Stratton is quickly coming into her own as the women’s champion, and Bayley was an excellent first title defense because she is so respected as a performer.
5. This week’s show wasn’t the strongest episode, but it wasn’t bad either. It’s the kind of episode you can pick and choose what to watch without missing much.