Randy Orton returned in the opening segment of the 1/2/26 SmackDown and hit the RKO on The Miz.
Carmelo Hayes retained the US Title against Johnny Gargano.
Matt Cardona is signed to SmackDown, and beat Kit Wilson.
Jordynne Grace is considering jumping to the main roster, and had a conversation with Women’s Champion Jade Cargill.
Drew McIntyre announced the Three Stages of Hell for next week - a standard match, a Falls Count Anywhere, and a Steel Cage match. Then he burned a picture of Cody and Dusty.
Giulia defeated Chelsea Green to win the Women’s United States Championship.
Two of the three titles defended tonight changed hands.
Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky became Women’s Tag Team Champions. Iyo is now a three-time champion, having won it twice with Dakota Kai. Rhea is a two-time champion, having won it previously with Nikki A.S.H.
Becky Lynch cheated on a pinfall attempt to defeat Maxxine Dupri for her second Women’s Intercontinental Championship.
CM Punk retained the World Heavyweight Title against Bron Breakker in the main event. Rey Mysterio, PENTA, and Dragon Lee came out to even the odds against The Vision.
Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer came out to do an interview in a walking boot and was annihilated by Raquel Rodriguez. They may be writing her out with an injury angle. Possibly.
Gunther continued to disrespect John Cena and AJ Styles came out and slapped him. That’ll be the main event of next week’s RAW, which will be at a special start time of 2 p.m. Eastern, as it’s taking place in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Dominik Mysterio was named Men’s Wrestler of the Year; Stephanie Vaquer was Women’s Wrestler of the Year and Debut Wrestler of the Year; John Cena vs. AJ Styles at Crown Jewel was Match of the Year; and AEW Revolution was Event of the Year.
What a boss move by Oba. “No one can beat me for this,” basically.
On tonight’s SmackDown from Berlin, Drew McIntyre won the WWE Championship from Cody Rhodes in the Three Stages of Hell match after a returning Jacob Fatu came out and beat up both of them. Drew escaped by the door while Fatu was concentrating on Cody.
This is Drew’s third WWE Championship, and fourth world title overall in the company.
Elton Prince has undergone a 2-level neck fusion surgery.
And there will be four singles matches on next week’s SmackDown to determine the participants in a Fatal Four-Way match at Saturday Night’s Main Event, with the winner of that match to face McIntyre for the belt at Royal Rumble.
CM Punk will defend the World Heavyweight Title next week on RAW in Belfast, Ireland against Finn Balor, while Becky Lynch will defend the Women’s Intercontinental Title against former champion Maxxine Dupri.
AJ Styles made Gunther tap out to the Calf Crusher on RAW’s main event, but both the referee and the original camera angle missed it.
When Gunther tapped his hand multiple times against AJ’s far side, Styles released the hold and told the ref that he felt Gunther tap out. The referee didn’t see it, and the announcers were likewise confused, and Gunther took advantage of the chaos to get in a low blow and Powerbomb for the pinfall.
The NXT Championship will be put up for grabs in a six-man ladder match on the February 3 edition of NXT, with qualifying matches taking place in the coming weeks.
Despite his “We the People” gimmick, he’s not a MAGAt. He’s worked all over the world and was head booker for Puerto Rico for a bit. He’s written several books and has a laid-back style of storytelling. The link goes to his recent recollections of [Ernie Ladd](Ernie Ladd - Wikipedia.
Tonight on SmackDown, Drew McIntyre addresses the WWE Universe as the new WWE Champion.
There will be four matches to determine who advances to a #1 contender’s Fatal Four-Way match at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Randy Orton vs. The Miz; Damian Priest vs. Solo Sikoa; Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov; and Matt Cardona vs. Trick Williams.
And Carmelo Hayes defends the United States Championship in an open challenge.
NOTE: This is an episode that aired earlier today on Netflix internationally, because it’s in London.
During last night’s “AAA on Fox” debut, a promo package featured an AI-generated picture of Dominik Mysterio that apparently nobody bothered to look at before they put it on the air, because it shows him wearing the AEW world championship belt.
