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WWE SmackDown Live comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Jan. 16, 2018) from the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for later this month in Philadelphia.
Advertised for tonight: Xavier Woods vs. Jinder Mahal, Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the SmackDown live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE SMACKDOWN RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR JAN. 16
Loneliness, your silent whisper, fills a river of tears through the night. Memory, you never let me cry, and you, you never said goodbye. Sometimes our tears blinded the love; we lost our dreams along the way. But I never thought you’d trade your soul to the fates, never thought you’d leave me alone to liveblog this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
The show opens with Big E doing the deal and New Day making their entrances.
They get in the ring and Kofi Kingston begins talking about how the freedom of the United States is at stake when your boy Xavier Woods takes on (owl gimmick) the self-proclaimed Modern-Day Maharaja. They go all-in on rolling their Rs there, like a buncha speedboat engines revving. Woods says he stands for the values of America, like liberty and the power of positivity.
But there’s a principle that doesn’t get spoken of often, the principle of pancakes. Big says America is like a pancake-- the individual ingredients are all quite strong, but they combine into something good. And that’s what the New Day is all about. Xavier reminds us that a vote for him is a vote for three, because the best things in life come in threes, like the red, white, and blue.
Kofi adds amigos, and E adds Home Alone 1, 2, and 3... well maybe not three. But Woods says his opponent hates Home Alone and despises everyone in the crowd, and is that the man you want as United States Champion? All opposed to Jinder Mahal say “Nay!”, and indeed New Day get a “Nay!” chant going. Xavier asks the people of earth for strength so he can win.
The Singh Brothers then come out and give their guy his usual big introduction.
Jinder Mahal vs. Xavier Woods (WWE United States Championship Tournament Semifinal Match)
Circling, Jinder lays Xavier out with a superkick! He poses for the crowd, draws him up, chop to the back of the neck, choking Woods in the ropes, snapmare to a knee to the back, off the ropes, knee drop connects, Xavier tries to get back into it but Mahal lays him back out and gets a nearfall. Jinder graps a rear chinlock, Woods fights to his feet and out with body blows and follows with a dropkick.
Charging in, back elbow to the face, another knee drop and Mahal is well in control as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Jinder is still in controll, with a half nelson neck crank locked well in. Woods fights out, jawbreaker, superkick to the knee, but he runs into a lariat and gets covered for two. Choking him in the corner again, and then in the turnbuckles as New Day cheer their man on. Slingshot knee drops, referee Jason Ayers warning the Maharaja repeatedly.
New Day throw pancakes at the Singh Brothers, Mahal with a snapmare into a reverse chinlock in the ring. Xavier gets to his feet, throwing hands but he gets put into the ropes gut-first and Jinder keeps the momentum. To the floor, choking Woods out with the ring skirt, a club knocks him to the floor and Mahal heads back in, happy to take the count-out.
Xavier beats referee Jason Ayers’ count at nine but Mahal is right on top of him with another stomp. Desperate punches, Jinder being forced to the corner, whip reversed and Woods takes the turnbuckles hard! Kneeling on his back, Mahal fires off a few crossface blows before locking a rear chinlock in. Xavier to his feet and out, boot up in the corner, Honor Roll countered with a knee to the face and we go to break!
Back from commercial, Mahal has Woods up in the turnbuckles and climbs to meet him. Jockeying for position, Xavier knocks him down with a headbutt and follows with a missile dropkick! Trading right hands, Woods pulls ahead but Jinder pokes his eyes! Xavier off the ropes with chops, he slides under and absolutely wallops him with one! Charging in, up and over, trying a tornado DDT, scouted but the enzuigiri lands home!
Off the ropes, Shining Wizard... NOT ENOUGH! New Day run the Singh Brothers off this time to keep them out of it and Woods punctuates with a back suplex. Headed up top, he walks the ropes, Gran Naniwa elbow... NOBODY HOME! Jinder throws him throat-first into the bottom rope! Hooking the cobra clutch...
Jinder Mahal wins by pinfall with Khallas, advancing to the tournament finals.
Jinder poses next to the United States Championship.
We get a handcam promo from Baron Corbin talking about how he, as a Lone Wolf, was built for the Royal Rumble. No distractions, no politics, all he sees is a ring full of potential victims and life-changing opportunity, and if you get in his way, you’re going over the top rope. Get on board or get out of his way, because it’s his time to main event WrestleMania.
Commentary hypes up a women’s trios match and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we’re reminded that Goldberg is the first member of this year’s WWE Hall of Fame class.
Backstage, AJ Styles is interviewed. He says Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn SHOULD be confident about their match, because it’s three against one. He counts Owens as two people, you see. They sound like deranged muppets and they’re basically the same guy, which he names Kami, and the very thought of Kami being co-champions makes him sick. But he got this far by overcoming obstacles, and he’s gonna do whatever he can to bring the Yep! Movement to an end.
This ain’t the Kami Show, this right here is SmackDown, the House That AJ Styles Built.
We get a handcam promo from Carmella talking about how everybody knows when it comes to making history, she’s ready. Ditto from Natalya, who says it’ll take catlike reflexes to win, so of course she will. Tamina up next, she calls out Becky Lynch, Naomi, Asuka, and Nia Jax and says she’ll make them all believe they can fly when she throws them over the top rope.
Lana talks about having the last laugh by crushing the competition at the Ravishing Rumble. Naomi says no one is safe and no one can be trusted, but everyone will feel the glow. Ruby Riott says creating chaos is in her DNA and you may not like her but you can’t stop her. Sarah Logan says when you’re surrounded by wolves you fight or run, and she never runs.
Liv Morgan says she’s here to make history and when she wins she’ll live forever. Becky Lynch says she was the first one drafted to SmackDown and the first SmackDown Women’s Champion, but at the Royal Rumble she’ll be the last one standing.
Bobby Roode makes his entrance, his match will be after the break.
Back from commercial in time for Mojo to make his entrance.
Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley (WWE United States Championship Tournament Semifinal Match)
Rawley clobbers Roode and lies in wait for him, deep in thought. Collar and elbow, Bobby with a side headlock, transition to a waistlock, hit the takedown and it is Glorious! Another side headlock, Mojo rams him in the corner but Roode is able to stay on him and grabs a reverse chinlock, transitioning through a front chancery to a side headlock as Mojo moves around.
Move to a hammerlock, Rawley breaks with a huge back elbow, off the ropes... POUNCE! Stomps follow, Roode tries a kick but Mojo is on him with a knee and smashes his face into the turnbuckles, punch to the midsection and he rolls the Glorious one to the floor and taunts him about it. Charging around... POUNCE INTO THE BARRICADE!
He jaws at Bobby some more and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Rawley has an abdominal stretch in, punching away at Roode’s ribs but Bobby’s able to hip toss out of it. The followup elbow misses and Mojo runs him over with a boot that gets two. Taunting him, asking him if he cracked a rib, shoulder thrusts in the corner, back to the abdominal stretch but grounded this time. Again Bobby posts up, over-the-shoulder chickenwing but Rawley hits a few knees to the ribs and whips him into the corner.
Body avalanche, running shoulder thrust, but a second attempt sees Roode sidestep and Mojo goes shoulder-first into the post at speed! Bobby blocking punches and throwing his own back, he gets Rawley in the ropes, whip reversed, duck the lariat, off the ropes with a flying forearm! A lariat follows, Roo fired up, corner lariat into a bulldog headlock, transition to a neckbreaker!
To the second, the diving blockbuster connects but it’s only good for a nearfall! Mojo hits a military press drop and gets a nearfall in return before slamming Bobby into the turnbuckles repeatedly. Off the ropes, looking for the forearm but Roode gets the boot up! Off the top, nobody home but his next move is the spinning spinebuster and it connects true!
Underhook applied...
Bobby Roode wins by pinfall with the Glorious DDT, advancing to the finals.
The Singh Brothers attack Roode after the match!
Jinder joins them in the aisle, smiling, and gets on the mic and says next week he puts a glorious end to Roode’s charade and becomes the next United States Champion. Bobby gets on the mic and says he doesn’t want to wait until next week, he wants to do it tonight! Mahal, of course, says he wants to do it on his own time, and he wants Bobby to have one full week to think about how bad he’s going to embarrass him.
Mahal turns around and sees Daniel Bryan standing there. Bryan gets on the mic and announces that the finals will be... TONIGHT!
Commentary hypes up our women’s trios match again and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a hype reel for Mixed Match Challenge.
A handcam promo with Randy Orton saying some people prefer the calm before the storm, but he likes the storm and he prefers to be surrounded by chaos, and that’s why he’s gonna win for a third time and main event WrestleMania.
Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, & Naomi vs. Riott Squad (Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, & Sarah Logan)
Morgan and Flair to start, collar and elbow, Charlotte throws her away and Liv comes in with a boot, caught to a heel trip, big waistlock takedown from the Queen gets one. Front chancery takeover, another cover, Morgan off the ropes with a boot and a forearm to get back into it but that brings the chops on. Low-angle German suplex from Charlotte, and Riott tags in.
Leg trip into a cover, fakeout solebutt, snapmare, Flair locks the figure four headscissors on and starts rolling Ruby around before tagging Lynch in. Chop into an uppercut, off the ropes with a flying forearm, tag to Naomi. Off the ropes, sliding lariat and Ruby heads to the floor as Naomi tags Becky in. Off the apron to clobber Riott and the two factions square off on the floor as we go to break.
Back from commercial, Ruby is in control with a reverse chinlock but Lynch gets to her feet, forcing her to mat slam her and tag Morgan back in. Liv to the second, knee to the face, tornado facebuster, only two! Taunting her, drawing her up, Becky throwing hands, reaching for the tag but Morgan gets a hair pull mat slam and tags Logan in. Sarah with a single-arm cutthroat choke, Lynch flips her off but gets clobbered by a shoulder block.
Becky’s able to dump Logan to the floor, crawling for the tag but Sarah clears the apron with forearms! Scoop denied, Lynch with a lariat, tags made, Naomi and Morgan legal. Naomi in like fire, springboard roundhouse kick connects, into the Speedball kicks, finishing with a dropkick, up and over to the apron, another kick, springboard crossbody... LOGAN MAKES THE SAVE!
Charlotte spears Sarah, Naomi picks Liv back up, float over, O’Connor roll denied but Ruby hits a roundhouse from the apron, Morgan capitalizes...
Riott Squad win by pinfall with the inverted Codebreaker from Liv Morgan on Naomi.
The Usos are interviewed backstage, turning it around and asking how Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin became a tag team anyway, suggesting it was Tag Team Tinder and Gable’s been on a rebound kick trying to play catchup but if they can’t tell them apart, they don’t deserve to be tag titles, and then they do a bit where they mix themselves up... GABLE AND BENJAMIN BLINDSIDE THEM!
Chad tells them not to worry, and they know exactly who they are-- former champions.
Commentary hypes Mixed Match Challenge up and we go to break.
Back from commercial, we get a recap video covering the feud between the Phenomenal One and the Yep! Movement.
Shinsuke Nakamura gets a handcam promo, saying thirty men, one destiny, one winner, him. Let’s rumble!
Shane McMahon makes his entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial we get an excerpt from a Fashion Files where Rusev Day challenge Breezango to a match next week. Breezango accept but throw the Ascension under the bus in their place.
Bobby Roode vs. Jinder Mahal (WWE United States Championship Tournament Finals)
Collar and elbow, Jinder backs Roode into the corner but breaks clean at referee Brian Nguyen’s command. Bobby catches a boot and fires off a few punches, a chop, another punch, chop in the corner but Mahal gets a kick and a chop to the back of the neck before choking him in the corner. Roode back in charge, turning it around with punches and a face smash into the turnbuckles.
Mounted punches in the corner, whip across, Jinder has the back body drop scouted and hits a kick but Roode low-bridges him to the floor. Around to him, Jinder capitalizes, putting him into the apron and the steps, targeting the ribs that Mojo Rawley injured earlier tonight. Hanging him up on the barricade, Mahal poses and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Jinder has a modified ringpost bow-and-arrow to attack the ribs. Back in, a shoulder block knocks Roode off the apron and into the barricade! Taking him back in, abdominal stretch, Bobby out but he runs right into a huge knee, dropkick to the side, only good for a nearfall. Slingshot knee drops, Roode back up, trading hands, off the ropes and he runs right into a knee to the face for another nearfall.
Stomp to the midsection, surfboard with a knee to the back, Bobby to his feet, chops, sunset flip, only two! Jinder catches him with a superkick... NOPE! Continuing to the throw kicks, choking Roode in the corner, Bobby ducks a lariat and clotheslines him to the floor! Roode off the apron with a lariat, back in, up top, high crossbody, only a nearfall!
Slugging it out in the corner, Bobby with the charging lariat to the bulldog headlock but Mahal breaks free, staggered with boots, Roode up top again and he connects with the diving blockbuster for another nearfall. Underhook, denied, victory roll pin, not enough, double lariat takes both guys out! Roode hits the spinning spinebuster, DDT denied, schoolboy pin from Jinder, nope!
Kick to the gut, cobra clutch, Bobby slips out and hooks him...
Bobby Roode wins by pinfall with the Glorious DDT, winning the WWE United States Championship.
Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan present Roode with the title.
That’s the show, folks.