WWE SmackDown Notes: 3-Hour Premiere Show, Drew McIntyre Makes Surprise Appearance, Lilian Garcia Moved to SmackDown, Tiffany Stratton Cashes In & Wins WWE Women’s Title, Card for 1/10 Show

WWE
Jan 3, 2025

WWE SmackDown’s Official 3-Hour Premiere Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona was notable for being the official three-hour premiere show for the SmackDown brand on USA Network.

Drew McIntyre Makes Surprise Appearance on Friday’s WWE SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured RAW brand talent Drew McIntyre making a surprise appearance.

At the start of the show, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes came out to the ring to talk about his bad blood issues with Kevin Owens. This led to McIntyre’s music playing to interrupt Rhodes and he came out to the ring. McIntyre first hugged Rhodes, who gave a confused look in return, and grabbed a microphone.

McIntyre stated that he is not here to hurt Cody but he is here to help him. McIntyre stated that Cody is not on his list but Cody is about to screw up his entire life’s work. After some more words of praise directed at Rhodes and WWE’s current locker room for being the “greatest generation” of the company, McIntyre stated that Rhodes is about to screw it all up. McIntyre talked about a guy running around with a replica title like a fan in the crowd pretending to be a champion and Cody’s neck is hanging by a thread. McIntyre stated that he can see that Cody needs a friend.

This led to Rhodes responding back talking about that he knows the transfer window is open and that Drew wants to help him. After some more words of praise directed at McIntyre over his work in recent years, Rhodes stated that he doesn’t believe Drew and he can feel the tension and the situation and it is going to devolve. Rhodes then stated that if McIntyre wants a shot at at the Championship, they might as well do it since everyone wants it. McIntyre responded stating that he is telling him the truth and he is here to not hurt him bit to help him.

McIntyre then proceeded to leave the ring and stood on the apron. McIntyre told Rhodes that he needs to watch his back and stepped down from the apron. This led to Owens running out from the crowd and attacked Rhodes from behind. This led to a brawl breaking out that was quickly stopped after WWE officials ran out to separate the two.

Lillian Garcia Makes SmackDown Announcer Return on Friday’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured WWE ring announcer Lillian Garcia making her return to WWE’s SmackDown brand as its new ring announcer.

Prior to her move, Garcia had been the ring announcer for WWE’s RAW brand since her return to the company this past October.

Garcia’s move is part of recent changes made by WWE for their SmackDown 3-hour premiere show and RAW’s upcoming premiere show on Netflix.

Tiffany Stratton Cashes In & Wins WWE Women’s Title on Friday’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured Tiffany Stratton officially cashing in her Women’s Money in the Bank briefcase and defeating Nia Jax to become the new WWE Women’s Champion.

During the WWE Women’s Championship match between Naomi and Nia Jax, Stratton’s music played and she ran out with a referee alongside her. Stratton then told the referee that she was cashing in only to toss the referee over the barricade and nailed Naomi in the head with her briefcase. This led to Jax hitting an Annihilator to Naomi for the pinfall victory to successfully defend her title and celebrated with Stratton and Candice LeRae.

This led to Bianca Belair, who came out with Naomi to be in her corner for the match, trying to attack Jax as payback for what she and LeRae did to her earlier only for Jax to knock her down. This led to Stratton hitting Jax with her briefcase and shoved LeRae into the ring post. Stratton then got put pf the ring leading to Belair grabbing Jax and hitting a KOD. Stratton then went back into the ring and tossed Belair out and over the announer’s table. Stratton then cashed in her briefcase for real and hit a Prettiest Ever Moonsault to Jax for the pinfall victory to become the new WWE Women’s Champion.

This was Stratton’s first ever WWE Women’s Championship victory in her WWE career and her second ever championship victory in WWE, the other being the NXT Women’s Championship.

Current Card for Next Week’s WWE SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured one new match announced for the card of next week’s show on January 10th in Portland, Oregon.

This new match was setup following promo segments, storyline angles, and match card graphic throughout the show.

Current card for January 10th WWE SmackDown show:

  • WWE United States Championship – LA Knight vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (c)
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