WWE SmackDown Notes: Results, U.S. Title Contender Tournament Announced, Randy Orton Joins SmackDown Brand

WWE

Steve C.

Dec 1, 2023

WWE SmackDown Results – Dec. 1, 2023

December 1, 2023
Brooklyn, NY – Barclay’s Center
Commentary – Kevin Patrick, Michael Cole, and Corey Graves

Quick Match Results

Bobby Lashley defeated Butch via Spear (pinfall)
Santos Escobar defeated Joaquin Wilde via Phantom Driver (pinfall)
Kevin Owens defeated Grayson Waller via Roll-up (pinfall)
Bianca Belair defeated Kairi Sane via KOD (pinfall)

New Tournament Announced for #1 Contender for U.S. Title

Friday’s SmackDown show featured the official announcement of an upcoming new tournament to determine the next official challenger for the United States Championship.

This announcement was made during an in-ring promo segment by current United States Champion Logan Paul. After Paul boasted about his haters being wrong about him and everyone in the back being jealous over his fast rise in wrestling, he stated that he had talked with SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis and they came up with the idea for a tournament to determine his next official challenger.

Paul announced that this upcoming tournament will feature eight men and starts at next week’s SmackDown show. Seven of the competitors were announced to be from the SmackDown brand and one mystery competitor to be from the NXT brand.

Full field for United States Championship #1 Contender tournament:

Santos Escobar
Dragon Lee
Karrion Kross
Austin Theory
Bobby Lashley
Grayson Waller
Kevin Owens
mystery NXT competitor

Who will earn a shot at @LoganPaul‘s #USTitle?#SmackDown pic.twitter.com/DDw7eA8e42
— WWE (@WWE) December 2, 2023

Randy Orton Signs Exclusive Contract for SmackDown Brand at Friday’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s SmackDown show featured Randy Orton signing an official contract to become an exclusive SmackDown brand talent.

Earlier in the show, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis was sitting in his office only to be interrupted by Paul Heyman who stated that Aldis can’t be serious about his plan to sign Orton to an exclusive contract for the SmackDown brand. Aldis responded that he was and he can tell Roman Reigns that message as his advocate.

“If I have to offer up the entire Bloodline to make it happen, so be it.” 👀#SmackDown @RealNickAldis @HeymanHustle @RandyOrton pic.twitter.com/ZQnzlAn3zj
— WWE (@WWE) December 2, 2023

In a follow-up segment, RAW General Manager Adam Pearce confronted Aldis stating that he was upset over what Aldis was doing since Orton is a RAW brand legend. This led to the two stating that they would led Orton make the choice in a signing segment later in the show.

Will it be #WWERaw or #SmackDown for @RandyOrton?

We’ll find out… TONIGHT?! @RealNickAldis @ScrapDaddyAP pic.twitter.com/MBmpePFQY5
— WWE (@WWE) December 2, 2023

In the main event of tonight’s show, Aldis and Pearce were in the ring and called for Orton to come out to make his decision which brand to sign an exclusive deal to. Orton came out but before he could do anything, Aldis and Pearce tried to entice Orton into signing with their brand with Pearce offering a title shot for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and Aldis responding that he would give Orton the chance at revenge against the people who injured him months ago. Before Orton could make his decision, Heyman came out to interrupt stating that Orton belongs on RAW and that the Bloodline would make the decision for him. This led to Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa coming out and engaged in a brawl with Orton resulting in LA Knight coming out to save Orton. Knight and Orton got the upper-hand over the Bloodline leading to Orton grabbing both contracts and tossed away the RAW contract and signed the SmackDown contract. Orton then told Heyman to tell Reigns that “Daddy’s home.” Aldis went into the ring to celebrate with Orton only to get hit with a RKO in the end.

“You can call @WWERomanReigns and you can tell him DADDY’S BACK.”#SmackDown @RandyOrton @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/JqusA8lE8C
— WWE (@WWE) December 2, 2023