WWE SmackDown results, grades (Jan. 16): Cody Rhodes declares for Royal Rumble; Carmelo Hayes and Leon Slater tear the house down

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WWE continued its European tour Friday afternoon with another three-hour episode of “Smackdown” in London following last week's surreal title change.

The champ is here

Following a recap of last week’s organization-flipping championship win, Drew McIntyre received a hero’s welcome in London with bagpipes, fireworks and flames roaring from the turnbuckle posts.

McIntyre attempted to remove the hometown glow by turning on the audience and asking where they were when he was fired, when he struggled with the Bloodline and battled CM Punk. After successfully turning the crowd, McIntyre made it clear Cody Rhodes won’t be getting a rematch.

Despite focusing a decent amount of their recent rivalry on his ability to pick the stipulations of their match, McIntyre left out that he apparently had General Manager Nick Aldis put in place a clause that eliminated the chance of a rematch for Rhodes.

Randy Orton was quick to hit the ring afterward to threaten McIntyre before Jacob Fatu arrived and actually threw hands with the champ. Fatu attacked McIntyre, who ultimately jumped over the guardrail and escaped "The Samoan Werewolf" through the audience.

The Miz took a page out of Orton’s book and popped up behind the Viper, hitting him with a Skull Crushing Finale before the referee started the first of four qualifying matches.

Orton wins, Miz loses — what’s new?

After last week’s brief interaction, Miz briefly had the upper hand before Orton gave the fans what they wanted. Orton played the greatest hits and landed a powerslam, made his way to the outside, and tossed Miz onto the announce table, then connected on his middle rope DDT. 

Miz hit another Skull Crushing Finale, but it wasn’t enough to put Orton away. Instead, Orton reversed a rollup, hit an RKO and earned the first spot in the Fatal 4-Way at Saturday Night’s Main Event to become the No. 1 contender for the WWE Undisputed Championship.

Can they (continue to) co-exist?

Before Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair hit the ring to battle Giulia and Kiana James, Bliss questioned if Flair was actually sick last week or just pretending. The duo continue to tease their ability to coexist before Bliss walked away, and Nia Jax and Lash Legend got in Flair’s head about her partner.

That made no impact on the match, and this one went about as expected. Giulia did her best to keep her team afloat, but a tag for James opened the door for Bliss to hit Sister Abigail for the pinfall. After the match, Jax and Legend hit the ring, taking out Bliss and Flair before Giulia was held back trying to get in their faces.

Cody Rhodes is back on the chase

Rhodes hit the ring and questioned if things got too formulaic on his latest title run. For some reason, he was content not getting a title rematch and said he was ready to fight from the bottom back to the top. 

Rhodes declared himself for the Royal Rumble and called out Fatu, who he said had the biggest receipt coming his way.

With Melo and Cardona, you can’t win

Trick Williams and Matt Cardona were put in tough positions. It’s clear Williams is being positioned as the cocky, fresh talent arriving after success in NXT. He’s also massively over and giving Williams some early momentum could avoid some of the pitfalls WWE encountered with Carmelo Hayes and his arrival from NXT. At the same time, Cardona felt like a big deal in his return from the indies back to the WWE.

Slotting these two into a No. 1 contender’s qualifying match put WWE in a no-win situation, with one of the two having to eat a loss. Between the two, Williams was a great choice to advance into the No. 1 contender’s qualifying match, showing WWE’s faith in how far he can climb.

After the match, Kit Wilson made his way to the ring and added insult to injury by attacking Cardona.

Jacob Fatu is the (Saturday Night’s) Main Event

Wilson was in the ring cutting a promo about toxic masculinity before Fatu popped up behind him, superkicked him out of the ring, and called out Rhodes. It seems for now, Fatu has moved on from the promotion’s champion, McIntyre, and is good with tossing hands with the former champ, Rhodes.

Rhodes wasted no time running to the ring before security filled the ring and kept the duo apart. I said in Uncrowned's recent breakout stars piece that Fatu needs to be elevated onto the same field as the likes of Rhodes — and here we are. He’ll get a match with Rhodes at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Only a matter of time

The Wyatt Sicks and the MFT traded promos reflecting on their struggle over the lantern that was stolen from the Wyatt Sicks before Solo Sikoa fought Damian Priest in the No. 1 contender’s qualifying match.

As the MFT made their presence felt, setting Priest back over and again, it was the Wyatt Sicks who eventually evened the score and worked to get back the lantern. Uncle Howdy nearly wrapped his hands around it before Sikoa ran out from the ring and tossed him over the announce table.

That distraction provided the opening for Priest to hit the South of Heaven chokeslam for the pinfall victory. After the match, as Uncle Howdy was about to get the lantern, Talla Tonga set him down and snatched it.

Next week will see the factions face off for the WWE Tag Team championship.

👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑

We got a nice glimpse into the future of WWE with U.S. Champion Carmelo Hayes and Leon Slater competing in an absolute barnburner.

The duo opened the bout with a frenetic pace, with Slater living up to be every bit the legit challenger he is. Despite Hayes appearing to tweak his knee early in the match, the two proved to be perfect dance partners in a match that never slowed.

Hayes and Slater wrestled with pace and precision, they traded technical submissions, and creativity in a really refreshing tilt. Slater came up just short, but as wrestling’s worst kept secret, his stock is well on the rise.

It was also another feather in the cap for Hayes, whose 2026 is off to a great start.

Competition for the U.S. Championship

Shinsuke Nakamura was seen watching the United States Championship match backstage before Tama Tonga confronted him. Tonga warned that after the MFT win the tag-team titles, he’s coming for the U.S. belt and that Nakamura needs to stay out of his way.

Johnny and his mask

Axiom demanded his mask back from Johnny Gargano backstage, who said he didn’t know anything about it. Nathan Frazer was wearing another mask and hit Gargano, then said they’ll have a match next week. Frazer and Axiom laughed before walking off.

Jordynne Grace, to the moon

Chelsea Green is maybe the most underrated talent on the roster. She gets plenty of love, but is still somehow undervalued. She can put on great matches, is entertaining, and makes her opponents look like gold.

Green was the perfect opponent for Jordynne Grace, who has been elevated right into the main-event picture. Another competitive match saw Grace pin Green clean, then confront the WWE Women’s Champion, Jade Cargill, who was seated at ringside.

Green attempted to attack Grace from behind, but knocked Cargill off the apron, dropping the title into the ring. Grace posed with it before tossing the belt back to Cargill.

Ilja Dragunov arrives, Sami Zayn elevates

McIntyre had two very different reactions to these two challengers confronting him backstage. McIntyre virtually ignored Dragunov as he was running from Fatu, but laughed off Zayn, leaning on his unbeaten record against the challenger.

Dragunov and Zayn then put on an absolute war from the opening bell. They stomped each other, showed technical expertise, and Dragunov got cut open early in the match with blood pouring down the side of his face.

Dragunov attempted the H-Bomb from the corner, but a front kick put him on his heels. Zayn later missed on a Helluva Kick, and they kept the pressure on each other. The two competitors played with the London audience’s emotions, with near-falls and a moment where Zayn narrowly escaped a count-out loss.

Zayn eventually put Dragunov away with an exploder suplex, then a Helluva Kick for the win, proving the confrontations earlier in the evening accurate as proper foreshadowing. Dragunov appears to be another breakout candidate for someone who likely belongs in the main event moving forward, while Zayn is right on the cusp of fighting for the title in Riyadh at the Royal Rumble.

As Zayn celebrated his win, Williams followed him with a Trick Shot, standing over his challenger as the show went off the air.

👑 After another exceptional episode of “Smackdown,” I give this show a Crown score of: 9/10. 👑