Reviews

The John Report: WWE SmackDown 01/10/25 Review

By John Canton • Published 10th January 2025
WWE Smackdown January 10 Review

This is WWE SmackDown featuring Tiffany Stratton celebrating her title win, Shinsuke Nakamura facing LA Knight, Chelsea Green in action, and more.

It’s the second WWE SmackDown episode of the year. For me in Canada (and many of you outside of the US), it’s the start of us watching SmackDown on Netflix. It’s still on USA Network for those of you in the US, but we’re watching on Netflix in most of the rest of the world.

Last week’s Smackdown episode featured Tiffany Stratton cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase on her friend Nia Jax to become the new WWE Women’s Champion. We’ll see how WWE follows up on that as we continue the three-hour era of the blue brand

From the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, this is Smackdown for episode #1325. Follow me on Twitter/X @johnreport, friend me on Facebook, or chat with me on the Bluesky App as well. Let’s get to it.

The new SmackDown commentary team of Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett welcomed us to the show. They have come over from Raw. I like them together.

A video package aired showing highlights from Raw on Netflix this past Monday.

Let’s Hear from Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman was in the ring doing a promo announcing that there is only one Tribal Chief in the WWE Universe and that Tribal Chief is Roman Reigns. The fans cheered that while starting an “OTC” chant. Heyman said that Reigns has authorized Heyman to share what Reigns plans to do next. Heyman said he wanted to share this news with one man in particular and deserved to hear this news face to face. Heyman said that man is the Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.

Cody Rhodes made his entrance as the WWE Champion in dress clothes without a suit jacket. The fans were singing his song and cheering as usual. Heyman shook Cody’s hand when the champion entered the ring.

Heyman talked about how Cody has earned the respect of Reigns, Heyman said he respects him and the fans love him. Heyman said that Cody is a credit not just to Smackdown, but to WWE in its entirety. Heyman said because Cody is a great champion, Reigns has let Heyman come out there to talk to Cody face to face. Heyman informed Cody that Reigns wanted his title back. Heyman said that this is not a prediction, this is a spoiler: Roman Reigns hereby declares he is entering the 2025 Men’s Royal Rumble with full intentions of winning to fight Cody once again for the championship. Heyman asked Cody what does he want to talk about?

Analysis: There’s the official announcement that Roman Reigns is in the Royal Rumble match. That’s not a major surprise since Reigns is without a title right now.

Kevin Owens appeared in the crowd wearing a “Kevin Is Right” shirt and he interrupted before Cody could say anything. Owens complained about how Cody went on Raw and shook hands with The Rock. Owens complained about Cody shaking hands with Heyman. Owens said that Cody should have let The Bloodline rip Roman Reigns to shreds, but now look what happened. Owens said that Cody is hurting the entire company.

Cody Rhodes left the ring, jumped the railing and went after Owens by fighting on the stairs around the fans. Cody went fighting with Owens into the concourse area. The cameras did not follow him.

When Paul Heyman turned around, he was surrounded by Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga of Solo Sikoa’s version of The Bloodline. Jimmy Uso ran out to the ring to make the save for Heyman, who left the ring. Jimmy nailed Fatu with a superkick, punches for Tama and a superkick for Tama. Jimmy hit a running hip attack on Jimmy and a running hip attack on Tama. Jimmy brought a chair into the ring and he hit Tama in the back with the chair. Jimmy hit Fatu with a chair, but Fatu no sold that and Fatu hit a running elbow smash on Jimmy. Fatu put a chair around Jimmy’s neck. A guy dressed as a referee (not really a referee) went into the ring and Fatu superkicked him. Producer Kenny Dykstra went into the ring and Fatu superkicked him. Cody went back into the ring and he sent Tama out of the ring. Cody fought with Fatu leading to Cody clotheslining Fatu over the top to the back. Smackdown GM Nick Aldis and other officials were at ringside trying to get Fatu and Tama to back away. Cody checked on Jimmy as the show went to break.

Analysis: That was a good segment with Jimmy Uso making the big save for Paul Heyman and Jimmy was successful at it, but I’m not surprised that Jacob Fatu was booked in a strong way there. Fatu has been a force since being in WWE, so perhaps he’ll break out even more if that Solo version of The Bloodline is gone. There was no sign of Solo here. Cody saving Jimmy could set up a tag team match while also teasing Fatu going after Cody in the future.

This Monday On Raw: Women’s Intercontinental Title Tournament Finals with Dakota Kai facing Lyra Valkyria along with a Street Fight between Damian Priest and Finn Balor.

(Commercial – During commercials on Netflix, they show slow-motion video of the superstars doing poses while a clock lets us know the show will be back counting down from 3:00 or longer in some breaks.)

Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga were shown backstage while there were some small security guys back there trying to make them leave. LA Knight showed up to shove Fatu out the door. Knight shoved the door, which impressed SD GM Aldis standing there and Knight said he had a US Title to win.

Women’s United States Championship: Chelsea Green (w/Piper Niven) vs. Michin

This is the first Women’s US Title defense for the longest reigning (and first ever) Women’s US Champion Chelsea Green.

Michin was aggressive with punches along with a back kick. Michin hit a running dropkick for two. Michin pulled on Green’s limbs while against the ropes. Green avoided a charging attack followed by Green sending Michin out of the ring. Green sent Michin into the barricade. Michin got back in before the ten count.

(Commercial)

Green was in control with a chinlock leading to Michin hitting a belly-to-back suplex. Michin hit two hurricanranas along with a dropkick. Michin did some booty shaking followed by a cannonball for two. Green got a hold of Michin leading to a flatliner into the mat. Green went up top for a dropkick attempt, but Michin avoided it. Michin hit an up kick followed by a running kick. Michin avoided Niven trying to interfere and Michin kicked Niven on the floor. Michin hit a cannonball on Niven on the floor. Michin went up top and Michin hit a cross body block, but Green rolled through leading to a pin while grabbing the tights for the pinfall win after about nine minutes.

Winner by pinfall: Chelsea Green

Analysis: **3/4 The match was solid with a cheap finish. It was one of those matches where Michin was on offense for about 80% of the match, she did the cross body block off the top and Green used the momentum leading to a tights grab on the pin. It’s a cheap victory for the heel champion Green. That’s probably how a lot of her title matches will go with a cheap win because that’s the kind of heel she is. That’s not a bad thing because Green is so entertaining as a character.

After the match, Michin grabbed Green before Green could leave the ring. Niven hit Michin in the back. Michin hit a running senton splash onto Michin. Green and Niven left.

There was a video from earlier in the day when Smackdown GM Nick Aldis was in his office as four tag teams argued about who deserved a shot in the tag team division. Aldis set up two matches: Los Garza vs. Pretty Deadly and Motor City Machine Guns vs. Austin Theory & Grayson Waller. Aldis warned Waller not to interrupt him again while Waller said that he didn’t have to deal with that on Raw from Adam Pearce, so he was teasing a move to Raw.

Los Garza made their entrance with Santos Escobar and Elektra Lopez representing the Legado Del Fantasma group. Tag team action up next.

Analysis: The good thing about Smackdown being three hours is that there is more time for the tag team division. There are a lot of good teams on the brand, so I’m happy to see the division featured more.

(Commercial)

There is an encore presentation on NXT on The CW this Saturday. Check out my NXT review here. I liked the show a lot.

Los Garza – Angel & Berto (w/Santos Escobar & Elektra Lopez) vs. Pretty Deadly – Kit Wilson & Elton Prince

They are both heel teams. Berto hit a jumping kick on Wilson along with a standing moonsault. Barrett was a big fan of Pretty Deadly as usual. Angel tagged in for a double team slam followed by a double team kick leading to Angel getting a two count on Wilson. Berto tagged in leading to a knee/kick combo against the ropes. Berto hit an armdrag along with a dropkick. Prince made a blind tag leading to a neck snap across the top rope, so Berto bumped over the top to the floor. They went to break there with PD in control.

(Commercial)

Prince did his best to prevent Berto from tagging out. Wilson tried to hit a splash on Berto, but Berto moved and Angel got the tag. Angel hit backbreakers on both opponents. Angel hit a jumping kick to the head. Angel jumped off the top with a cross body block for two. Angel did a headscissors while Wilson was screaming for #DIY to help since PD helped them last week. Angle superkicked Wilson for a two count. Prince did a hair pull takedown on Prince when the referee wasn’t looking. Lopez complained to the referee, so Escobar pulled Prince down on the turnbuckle. Los Garza picked up Prince leading to a spinning slam onto his back and Berto covered Prince for the win. It went about eight minutes.

Winners by pinfall: Los Garza – Angel & Berto

Analysis: **1/2 It was an average tag team match that was hurt by the fact that they are both heel teams. Los Garza were acting more like babyfaces in this match as they cheated to win thanks to Lopez distracting and Escobar interfering. I like Pretty Deadly a lot although they haven’t been booked strongly on Smackdown at all.

LA Knight made his entrance for his singles match to try to win back the US Title. The fans popped for Knight as usual.

(Commercial)

United States Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. LA Knight

Nakamura beat Knight for the US Title at Survivor Series on November 30th and now Knight gets his rematch.

Knight started on offense with a neckbreaker followed by stomps. Nakamura went to the apron leading to a jumping kick to the head. Nakamura hit a running knee lift by the apron. Nakamura and Knight each hit some chops. Nakamura set up Knight on the top rope followed by a running knee lift that sent Knight down to the floor. Knight got back into it sending Nakamura over the top to the floor. Knight hit a baseball slide kick sending Nakamura into the commentary table. Back in the ring, Knight clotheslined Nakamura over the top to the floor. Knight picked up Nakamura, but Nakamura sent Knight into the ring post two times in a row. They went to a break there.

(Commercial)

The match returned with Nakamura and Knight trading punches. Knight nailed Nakamura with a clothesline followed by punches. Knight hit a popup powerslam followed by an elbow drop for two. Knight worked over Nakamura with punches followed by a rollup for two. The middle turnbuckle was exposed so Knight almost hit the steel. Nakamura sent up Knight against the ropes leading to a sliding German Suplex. Nakamura hit a rising kick to the head. Nakamura went up for nothing, so Knight jumped up top and hit a superplex for two. Nakamura is not going to do a move off the top, but it’s a cool spot because Knight showed off his athleticism by jumping to the top rope. There were “LA Knight” chants. Knight applied a reverse Boston Crab submission on Nakamura, who managed to get his hand on the ropes to break the hold. Nakamura tripped up Knight leading to an armbar on the left arm, but Knight countered into a pin for two. Nakamura hit a spinning kick to the head. Nakamura charged, Knight got a rollup attempt and then Nakamura hit a spinning elbow to the head. Nakamura hit a Kinshasa knee to the head for two because Knight’s foot was on the bottom rope. Nakamura went for a running Kinshasha, Knight moved and Nakamura’s knee hit the exposed steel turnbuckle. Knight hit a BFT on Nakamura, but Tama Tonga & Jacob Fatu interrupted to attack Knight. It’s a DQ finish after 14 minutes.

Winner by disqualification: LA Knight (Shinsuke Nakamura retains the US Title)

Analysis: *** I thought it was a pretty good match that may have ended up being better than their Survivor Series match, but the DQ finish obviously hurts that ending. It makes sense in terms of a story because Knight sent Fatu out of the building earlier, so a heel like Fatu is going to get that revenge. It was timed well because the fans hated it and booed it. This also sets up Knight for a US Title shot against Nakamura in the future since it was a match without a finish.

After the match, Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu beat up Knight. Fatu hit a popup Samoan Drop. Fatu hit a running hip attack on Knight two times in a row. Fatu hit a double jump moonsault off the top on Knight. Cody Rhodes and Jimmy Uso showed up to fight with Fatu and Tama at ringside. Cody and Jimmy beat up Fatu and Tama, so they sent them over the barricade.

Cody Rhodes did a promo telling Nick Aldis not to send them home. Cody said that they are here while Cody and Jimmy are here. Cody wanted a tag team match tonight. Nick Aldis said they’ve got it, so that match is coming up later.

Analysis: The tag team match was set up earlier in the night, it was furthered here and now it’s happening in the main event of the show. There is also a rivalry building between Fatu and Knight, which is cool with me.

(Commercial)

There was a video package about Tiffany Stratton cashing in Money in the Bank on Nia Jax. Stratton helped Nia Jax beat Naomi and then after the match, Stratton hit Jax with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Bianca Belair hit the KOD on Jax. Stratton hit the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Jax to become the new WWE Women’s Champion. The fans loved it.

The Motor City Machine Guns entered for tag team action.

(Commercial)

The main event is official: Cody Rhodes & Jimmy Uso vs. Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga.

Motor City Machine Guns – Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin vs. Austin Theory & Grayson Waller

Theory nailed Shelley with a punch to the jaw. Theory tagged in and sent Shelley hard into the turnbuckle for a sternum bump. Theory connected with a running clothesline. Sabin tagged in for a bulldog on Theory. Waller tagged in with an impressive leapfrog followed by a running forearm. Shelley tagged in, Sabin tripped up Theory on the apron and the Guns each hit kicks on Waller. The Guns clotheslined Waller out of the ring. Sabin ran the ropes, but Theory pulled Sabin out of the ring and hit a forearm. Waller jumped back into the ring with a jumping flatliner on Shelley for a two count.

(Commercial)

The heels were in control as Theory applied a chinlock on Shelley, who broke free and Theory hit Shelley with an elbow to knock him down. Shelley sent Theory into Waller and Shelley did a superkick. Sabin tagged in with punches followed by a kick to knock Theory off the apron. Sabin hit a dropkick on Waller along with a jumping kick to the head. Shelley was back in for a double baseball slide kick by The Guns on their opponents on the floor. Sabin hit a suicide dive onto both opponents. Sabin was back in for a missile dropkick into a flatliner by Shelley for a two count. Theory made the blind tag, Waller cleared the ring and Sabin superkicked Waller on the floor. Theory was back in as the legal man with a running elbow. Waller was back in for a double team elbow smash on Sabin for a two count. Sabin did a jawbreaker, Theory tagged in and Sabin hit Waller with a forearm. Shelley tagged in and Waller hit a jumping side kick on Sabin. Shelley hit an atomic drop while Sabin was legal with a running dropkick on Waller. The Guns hit a double kick on Theory. Shelley tagged in for the Skull N Bones double team move that is a neckbreaker/top rope splash combo and Shelley pinned Theory for the win. It went about 13 minutes.

Winners by pinfall: Motor City Machine Guns – Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin

Analysis: ***1/4 A competitive match between two very good teams. I liked how even it was most of the way. The finish was a decisive win for The Guns, which was the right way to book that finish because The Guns needed the win after getting screwed out of winning the titles last week. I’m not sure how long Theory & Waller will remain a team because both guys have a lot of potential as singles wrestlers, but I do think they work well together. It seems like WWE has gone away from teasing the split for them, at least for now.

The WWE Tag Team Champions #DIY – Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano were backstage watching the match. Pretty Deadly walked up to #DIY saying they thought #DIY was going to help them. Ciampa said that they didn’t want to scratch their backs. Gargano mentioned Pretty Deadly helping them last week and Gargano claimed he’s got them. The #DIY guys left. Apollo Crews walked up to Pretty Deadly saying if you are dumb enough to believe #DIY then you deserve everything coming your way and it’s not the Tag Team Titles. Crews left while Pretty Deadly sarcastically thanked him for the advice.

Analysis: The story is that #DIY used Pretty Deadly last week to help #DIY keep the titles and it worked, but #DIY isn’t going to help PD at all because #DIY are selfish heels. Maybe this will lead to PD realizing it and PD become faces out of the story. That’s a possibility at least.

Nia Jax was in the locker room when Candice LeRae let Jax know that Tiffany Stratton was going to the ring. Jax wondered what Stratton will say and Jax claimed she would go congratulate Stratton herself.

(Commercial)