WWE Smackdown 1/17/2025

WWE Smackdown 1/17/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/01/wwe-smackdown-1102025.html

We are in San Diego, CA. Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett are on commentary and are walking through the arena corridors. They talk about the show and Tiffany Stratton. We see various wrestlers arrive.

Rey Mysterio comes out to talk. He says it's great to be back and declares himself for the Royal Rumble. Rey talks about winning The Royal Rumble and the title. He said the competition will be tough but he did it for a friend in Eddy Guerrero when he won.

Kevin Owens comes out. He says he's sorry for interrupting him. KO says he respects Rey. He talks about some of his accomplishments and says now he gets to wear the winged eagle title. His shirt says, "The Canadian Dream Son of a Security System Technician". He says one thing he wanted to do was face Rey 1v1. KO asks Rey to promise him he will pick him for a title match when he wins The Rumble.

Rey says he's all about challenges but KO isn't the champ, Cody is. KO gets mad at being told he's not the champ. Rey says he's acting delusional and reminds him of Dom. KO goes for a cheap shot, Rey gets some offense in and KO goes out.

We go to break and return. Bianca and Naomi talk in the back. Naomi says there's still no info on who attacked Jade. Naomi says they may not fight Tiff tonight but do need to get revenge on Nia and LaRae. Naomi tells Bianca to wrap her hair up so it doesn't get tied up again like last week.

Nick Aldis talks to Rey in the back. He says he will give him a match with Owens tonight. Cody Rhodes walks in. He said he saw what happened. Rey tells him to let him handle KO tonight and he says he will leave something for Cody as well. Cody tells Aldis he's cleared to wrestle. Nick says it's not a good thing as there's a lot of time before The Rumble and Mania. He then asks Cody to sign something to prevent what happened at SNME from happening again (I have no idea what they are talking about).

Nia Jax and Candice LeRae vs Naomi and Bianca Belair

Nia splashes Naomi in the corner as it starts. CL pounds on BB. Nia hits headbutts on BB. BB suplexes her then hits a corner spear. BB hits corner punches then gorilla presses CL onto Nia outside.

We go to PiP break and return. BB rolls up CL for 2. CL 2nd rope crossbodies her but BB backrolls and lifts her. CL pulls on BB's hair and pulls her down. CL misses a senton. BB goes for the tag and Nia pulls Naomi off the apron. Naomi is thrown into the rails. Nia samoan drops Naomi. CL grabs onto BB's hair but is pulled into the post with it. BB top rope crossbodies Nia. Naomi slingshot facebusters Nia for 2. Naomi split-legged moonsaults Nia for 2. Naomi step up enzugiri's CL.

Nia headbutts BB then samoan drops Naomi. BB spears Nia. BB goes for a handspring and is dropkicked. CL step up sentons BB's back. Nia sentons BB. BB pops up CL onto the buckles and spinebusters her. BB handspring moonsaults her. Nia legdrops CL when BB moves. Naomi bubba bombs CL and picks up the win.

Thoughts: It was an okay match here. It made sense and everyone did their usual spots. It could have gone on a little longer.

Byron Saxton talks to Bayley earlier in the day. Bay says this night is huge to her. she said she won the Rumble lst year and beat Iyo Sky. She says she respect Tiffany Stratton but it's personal and she wants to beat her.

Michin and B-Fab talk in the back. Fab says she will get another chance to take down Green. Piper Niven comes in with Green and Piper is acting like security. Fab says Green wouldn't have been champ if it's not for Piper. Piper threatens Fab and Fab challenges her for tonight. She says Green better watch her back after. Michin says, "now that's a threat".

Jimmy Uso talks in the back. He tells the camera that between him and Melo, he is "him".

Carmelo Hayes comes out. Melo says Roman is going to The Rumble, Jey's got a title match and Jimmy is just living in the shadow of them. Melo asks how Jimmy will take shots at him when he's sitting on the bench. He tells him to lace up his shoes real tight as he will show him why Melo don't miss.

Carmelo Hayes vs Jimmy Uso

Jey throws Melo in from the apron. He hits Melo while he wears Melo's sunglasses. Melo slides out to avoid a superkick. Uso's throat is pulled down over the top rope. Melo nails him then stomps on him. Uso hiptoss neckbreakers Melo. Uso nails Melo on the apron. Uso suplexes Melo on the apron. Uso then topes him.

We go to break and return. They fight on the 2nd rope. Uso misses a 2nd rope corkscrew dive and Melo gets a 2 count on him on a blind springboard ddt. Melo and Uso double lariat each other. Uso spinning enzugir's Melo. Melo hits a la mistica facebuster on him for 2. Uso pop-up samoan drops him for 2.

Melo jumps off the top and takes a codebreaker for 2. Melo takes a superkick from Uso for 2. Uso misses a corner hip attack then spears him. Uso goes up top. Jacob Fatu appears on the apron.

Tama Tonga pushes Uso off the top for the DQ.

Thoughts: This was a good match that was designed to be a good match. We don't see a lot of Jimmy Uso singles matches so that was nice. The two had an athletic match as expected and I thought this helped put over Uso. Neither guy needed to lose so they had neither guy take the pin.

Fatu and Tama stomp on Uso. Tama ddt's Uso. Uso gets stomped on. Melo tries to coordinate with the heels then Fatu lariats Melo. Fatu corner hip attacks Uso. Solo Sikoa comes out. 

We go to break and return. Solo drops the mic and walks off without saying anything. Fatu gets on the mic. He says he's tired of the hate and disrespect. He says even on his bad days, nobody can touch him. He says he doesn't care if you cheer or boo him. He says some stuff I didn't get then says he is just getting started.

LA Knight comes out and nails Tama and Fatu from behind. He stomps on Fatu then pounds on Tama. LA eventually loses the 1v2. Braun Strowman then comes down to help out LA. Tama plancha's Braun and is thrown into the rails. Fatu and Braun tease going at it then Tama pulls Fatu out.

Legado Del Fantasma talk. Santos says Los Garza exposed Pretty Deadly last week. He has a shaved face. He says they will face The Motor City Machine Guns tonight. He says no one is handing them respect. He says if you want respect, you take it.

The Motor City Machine Guns vs Los Garza

Alex side headlocks Angel. Angel flips over Alex's back. They legsweep each other and Angel offers a handshake. Angel hits him. Berto leafrogs Angel and lands on Alex's gut. Berto backrolls into a moonsault on Alex.

Alex chops Berto. Berto takes a double back body drop. Angel is held for a basement dropkick. Sabin tries to flying headscissors Berto but is dropkicked by Angel as he does it. Sabin takes a running knee + kick combo. We go to break and return.

Berto slingshots into a cutter while Sabin is in the gori special. Alex hits shots on Angel then running forearms him. Alex flying headscissors him. Sabin dragon screws Berto on the ropes then Alex does as well. Berto gets both knees dropkicked for 2.

Alex figure fours Berto then Sabin figure fours Angel. Angel rolls up Alex into a sitout powerbomb for 2. Angel holds up both opponents and Berto springboard kicks Sabin, sending Alex down as well. Sabin armdrags Angel then tornado ddt's him off of Berto. Sabin topes both opponents outside.

Pretty Deadly come out and Kit nails Alex. Sabin nails Kit. Berto takes a doube kick in the corner then takes a neckbreaker + top rope splash and is pinned.

Thoughts: It was another good match. They didn't quite do as much flying as you would expect but it was 4 solid juniors going at it. Pretty Deadly got involved near the end but didn't mess with things too much.

Nick Aldis goes up to Kevin Owens in the back. He says he has an addendum for KO's match. KO complains Cody hadn't signed it. KO says he won't sign it until Cody does. He says he won't sign this as he has a match and doesn't want to be distracted.

B-Fab vs Piper Niven

Piper misses a corner charge and takes a spinning heel kick. Fab side kicks her then facebusters her for 2. Piper spinebusters her then misses a senton. Fab wraparound ddt's Piper. Fab pump kicks Piper onto the apron then off of it. Green distracts Fab outside and is hit from the apron. Piper sentons Fab's back. Piper cradle shocks Fab and pins her to win.

Thoughts: It was short and wasn't much.

The heels beat up on Fab after. Michin comes out to help Fab and hits Piper with a kendo stick. Piper forearms her then is kicked in the face.

We get a tribute on Bob Uecker, who passed away this week. Bob was at Wrestlemania's III and IV and was great.

We see clips of Cody Rhodes hanging out the DudePerfect Youtube crew.

Byron interviews Tiffany Stratton. She says she didn't make history, she made Tiffstory. Tiff says Bayley had a career filled with big moments, but so has she. She says she's the youngest Miss MITB. She says she doesn't need to recreate those moments as she is that moment. She says Bay has to watch her dream die as it's Tiffy Time.

Kevin Owens vs Rey Mysterio

Rey has San Diego Padres baseball gear on. KO backs up Rey in the corner. KO waistlock takedowns him. Rey armdrags him. KO wristlocks him. Rey flips out of it using the ropes. KO shoulders Rey over and sends him out to the floor. 

Rey sunset flips him. Rey does a nice headscissors. KO blocks one and drops Rey on his chest. KO sentons him. Rey tries to headscissor KO over the top and is knee'd. KO hits shots on Rey outside. Rey flying headscissors KO into the rails. Rey slides out and splashes KO on the floor.

We go to break and return. KO throws Rey down backwards and tells the crowd to suck it. Rey top rope la sillas KO then bulldogs him off the casadora. KO is headscissored into the ropes. KO superkicks Rey. Rey ddt's KO for 2. 

KO headbutts Rey while they are on the buckles. KO frogsplashes Rey for 2. KO hits forearms on Rey on the ropes. Rey sunset bombs KO off the buckles. Rey then code red's KO for 2. Rey misses a springboard crossbody and takes a stunner for 2.

KO top rope swantons but Rey gets his knees up. Rey 619's KO. Rey gets crotched up top then KO knocks the ref into the ropes. KO pop-up powerbombs Rey and gets the win.

Thoughts: It was another solid match here. The two matched up better than I expected and it was one of KO's smarter matches as of late.

KO shakes Rey's hand after. KO boots him and goes for a package piledriver. Cody Rhodes comes down and the two fight. Refs and agents then try to stop them as they fight outside.

Cody Rhodes and Nick Aldis talk in the back. Nick says they are out of control. Nick says Cody and KO will relinquish their title belts so they can be suspended up in the air at Royal Rumble. He says they will have a contract signing and says Shawn Michaels will moderate it.

DIY and Pretty Deadly talk in the back. Ciampa says PD handed the win to The Guns. Ciampa says they aren't afraid of them. He says PD is a joke and everyone is laughing. He tells them to become men to get a title shot. Johnny tells them to get their act together. He says make their lives easier so they can make it easier for them. Apollo Crews walks in. He says this has gotten PD nowhere. Johnny then nails Crews from behind and chokes him. He then bangs his head off the moving box.

We get a video on Charlotte Flair.

WWE Women's Title - Tiffany Stratton (c) vs Bayley

Tiff side headlock takeovers her. Bay headscissors her. They legsweep each other and stand off. Bay snapmares her. Tiff kips up and shoulders her over. Tiff cartwheels and backflips over her. Tiff bridges and kips up. Bay 2nd rope diving armdrags Tiff then sliding lariats her for 2. Tiff is lariated out. We go to break and return.

Bay cutters Tiff over the 2nd rope. Bay sliding dropkicks Tiff under the bottom rope. Tiff pulls Bay's shoulder into the post then into the rail. Tiff armwhips Bay down for 2. Bay tries to kick Tiff from the apron but is swept down onto the apron.

Tiff runs around the ring into a Bay forearm. Tiff is flapjacked onto the apron edge for 2. Tiff lariats her and misses a hip attack on the ropes. Bay goes for a tope and runs into a forearm. Tiff puts the ring skirt around Bay then running knees her against the side of the ring.

Tiff hip attacks Bay off the apron. Tiff is caught on a plancha and takes a belly to belly suplex on the floor. We go to PiP break and return. Bay superplexes her. Tiff pulls Bay's arm down over the top rope.

Tiff hits a top rope swanton. Tiff then powerbombs her for 2. Tiff goes for the armbar. Tiff is dropped gut first on the commentary table. Bay then suplexes her on the floor. Roxanne Perez is in the front row and gets in Bay's face.

Bay top rope elbow drops Tiff for 2. Bay then crossfaces her. Tiff spinebusters her for 2. Bay hits a belly to belly suplex on Tiff for 2. Bay sunset flips Tiff into the buckles for 2. Bay does a swinging crucifix drop on Tiff for 2.

Tiff backslides her for 2. Tiff alabama slams her then hits a prettiest moonsault ever for the win.

Thoughts: I liked it. Tiff worked the arm some here but didn't focus too much on it. Tiff had a good showing here and didn't look out of place at all. Tiff got the win as expected and I was surprised Roxanne Perez didn't get involved in this one.

Overall thoughts: I thought this showed off the positives of a 3-hour show. The feature matches got a lot of time and ended up being much better because of it. It was a heavy wrestling show but most of the matches were good so I had no complaints. I liked Rey/Owens and Melo/Jimmy best here. There was nothing must see here and not a lot of new stuff happened angle wise, but it was a good show overall. I'd give this one a 7 out of 10.