WWE SmackDown LIVE Results: January 9, 2018By Cassidy| January 11, 2018 WWE SmackDown Previous Page Detailed Results After finding out last week that he will be defending the WWE Championship in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match against Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn at the Royal Rumble in a few weeks, SmackDown LIVE kicks off with WWE Champion AJ Styles, who would make his way to the ring for a special sit-down interview with Renee Young. AJ says that his strategy is simple and that is to hit “hard” and hit “fast” before admitting that the Handicap Match isn’t fair but says that neither is life. Renee then asks the WWE Champion if he thinks that Daniel Bryan is “playing favorites” and AJ says that he doesn’t know what Daniel is thinking. Renee then asks about Shane McMahon but AJ says that he doesn’t want to point fingers at anyone, saying that he’s got enough to worry about with Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. AJ continues, saying that he can’t he allow those two “idiots” to take the WWE Title from him saying that he is going to beat Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn on the same night at the same time. AJ Styles is then interrupted by his Royal Rumble opponents, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn. Owens then suggests that they refer to AJ as the “remorseful” AJ Styles before saying that it’s going to take a “miracle” for AJ Styles to walk out of the Royal Rumble as the WWE Champion. Owens then declares that, at the Royal Rumble, he and Sami are going to be the first ever “co-WWE Champions” before saying that they are going to do “whatever they want”. Owens & Zayn then chant “yep” before SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon comes out to the stage before saying that he supports Daniel Bryan’s decision “for now”. Shane then announces that they are going to have a Handicap Match here tonight when Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn take on the team of AJ Styles, Randy Orton, & Shinsuke Nakamura! Backstage, Shane runs into Daniel Bryan, who says that Shane made a “hell of a main event” before the Commissioner and the General Manager awkwardly shake hands before Shane walks off. For the first time since being put on the shelf by The Riott Squad, “The Irish Lass Kicker” would be in action on SmackDown LIVE as Becky Lynch, with Naomi and SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair in her corner, would go one-on-one with the leader of The Riott Squad, Ruby Riott, with Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan in her corner, in the opening match of the night. With Charlotte Flair & Naomi keeping Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan from getting involved, Becky Lynch would lock in the Dis-Arm-Her on Ruby Riott, making Ruby tap out to pick up the win. In the ongoing saga between Breezango & The Ascension and The Bludgeon Brothers, SmackDown LIVE would see The Ascension face The Bludgeon Brothers in tag team action. In the end, it was another dominant victory for The Bludgeon Brothers as Harper & Rowan would hit Viktor with a double team sitout powerbomb with Harper scoring the win. After the match, The Bludgeon Brothers would target Konnor as Harper & Rowan would beat Konnor down before hitting Konnor with the double arm-lift powerbomb. With “Glorious” Bobby Roode seated at ringside, the final First Round Match in the United States Championship Tournament would take place as Zack Ryder would face his former tag team partner Mojo Rawley with the winner advancing to the Semi-Finals. In the end, it was Mojo Rawley hitting Zack Ryder with his running forearm in the corner, pinning Ryder to advance to the Semi-Finals where he will face Bobby Roode. After the match, Bobby Roode would enter the ring, getting in the face of Mojo Rawley before Mojo exits the ring. After seemingly winning the SmackDown Tag Team Titles from The Usos last week only to have the match restarted, Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin would make an appearance on SmackDown LIVE to air their grievances. Shelton Benjamin says that they were “robbed” of the SmackDown Tag Team Titles last week before Chad Gable says that the fans don’t know what it’s like to be a “winner”. Benjamin then says that they demand “justice” before Gable says that they “lost to instant replay” last week. Gable then calls out the referee from last week, demanding that the referee come out there to “free the tag titles”. However, Gable & Benjamin instead get SmackDown LIVE General Manager Daniel Bryan, saying that he knows what it’s like to work so hard for something just to have it taken away. The GM then says that the referees represent management before saying that the “referee’s decision is final”. Benjamin says that the referee’s decision is final and the referee’s decision was in their favor last week. Daniel argues that Gable & Benjamin did not win the match last week and the referee felt like he did the right thing and they stand behind the referee’s decision. Gable then asks if Daniel wants them to beat The Usos twice in one night. This inspires the GM to announce that, at the Royal Rumble, The Usos will defend the SmackDown Tag Team Titles against Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match! After announcing their entry into the Men’s Royal Rumble Match, Rusev Day would face Breezango in tag team action. In the end, it was Fandango surprising Rusev with a roll-up to pick up the win for Breezango. Then it was time for the main event as WWE Champion AJ Styles would team with “The Viper” Randy Orton and “The Artist” Shinsuke Nakamura to face Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a 3-on-2 Handicap Match. During the match, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn would try to abandon the match and take a count-out loss but Shane McMahon would come out to announce that he is restarting the match and it will have no count-outs! Later on in the match, Randy Orton was about to put Sami Zayn away with the RKO when Kevin Owens enters the ring with a steel chair, using the weapon against Randy Orton, ending the match by disqualification. Owens then uses the chair to take out Shinsuke Nakamura as well as AJ Styles before he and Sami try to leave. Shane then comes out to the stage to announce that the match is going to be restarted with no disqualifications and no count-outs! With steel chair in hand, AJ Styles would chase Kevin Owens to the back, leaving Sami Zayn all alone against both Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura. Orton & Nakamura would systematically pick apart Sami Zayn before Orton blasts Sami in the face with the steel steps. “The Viper” then slams Sami on the exposed announce table before rolling Zayn back into the ring where Nakamura would hit Sami with the Kinshasa. Orton then re-enters the ring to put the finishing touches on Sami Zayn, hitting Sami with the RKO with Orton pinning Sami to pick up the win for his team. What did you think of this week’s SmackDown LIVE? Post your comments in the box below.
