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Friday Night SmackDown aired this week from inside the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, the host city of this year’s Royal Rumble. We are less than 24 hours away from witnessing one of the biggest nights of the year for WWE’s female Superstars. 30 may enter, but only 1 can win the Royal Rumble match and go on to WrestleMania 41.
Our women’s content started this week with Jackie Redmond narrating the annual “By the Numbers” video package, highlighting the important stats regarding the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches. Bayley won last year’s match and entered at #3, lasting 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 1 second. The only other woman to win that has entered at #3 was 2021 winner Bianca Belair, who now holds the record for most cumulative time in her years of competing in the match at 3 hours, 5 minutes, and 32 seconds. The Team Red backstage correspondent also mentioned Chelsea Green‘s record for shortest appearance in the match at 5 seconds, as well as Michelle McCool entering from the front row, both moments from the 2023 women’s match.
Byron Saxton interviewed Women’s United States Champion Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, asking Green if she was concerned at all about Michin after she pinned her during last week’s tag team match. Green responded by saying that last week, Michin tried to destroy the face of the United States, so tonight, she is going to return the favor, followed by going straight to the Royal Rumble, winning it, and then parading all the way to WrestleMania where she will win. The champ and her “Secret Hervice” then made their way out to the ring for Green’s title defense against Michin, which will be Michin’s last opportunity at the title if she cannot win. Michin then came out with B-Fab accompanying her and a kendo stick in hand.
The match began with several pinning attempts from Michin, but Green would quickly retreat and then get back into the ring. The two then locked up, with Michin eventually taking control. Commentary noted her green ring gear as a way of trying to get in the champion’s head. Green appeared to get angrier as the match went on, with the two going back and forth.
The Crazy One performed an Eat Defeat, but Niven pulled Green out of the ring. Seeing what was going on, B-Fab ran up to Niven, kicking her in the face and throwing Green back into the ring; Green quickly escaped as Michin tried to chase after her, with Green finding Michin’s kendo stick inside the timekeeper’s area and hitting her with it, meaning that while Michin won the match, Green retained her title. Michin ended up whooping Green with the kendo stick as the champion and Niven escaped, with Michin being cheated out of a title opportunity yet again.
Byron Saxton went from interviewing the Women’s United States Champion to the Women’s Tag Team Champions, Naomi and Bianca Belair, who were questioned on what would happen if the two have to go face-to-face in tomorrow’s Royal Rumble match. Belair understands that her and Naomi are a tag team going into the event, but they are going to be a tag team before and after the Rumble and that’s all that matters, and Naomi says they will support each other no matter the outcome; if one doesn’t win, the other woman will. Saxton then asked Naomi about looking to win later on against Liv Morgan, who alongside her friend from The Judgement Day, Raquel Rodriguez, is eyeing the tag team gold. The EST answers, saying that they can try all they want, but her and Naomi aren’t going down without a fight, with Naomi ending the interview by stating they just better be ready to Rumble.
The ongoing series of Charlotte Flair vignettes continued with this week’s installment. Flair began by narrating several criticisms she’s faced. She’s selfish, and she is. She’s greedy, and why wouldn’t she be? She has worked her ass off this past year to get to where she is. She’s heard the whispers, she’s heard the stories, and guess what: they’re all true. Footage played of her suffering the injury that has kept her on the shelf. There’s a reason why it’s lonely at the top. She doesn’t need to make friends, and she’s had one goal since she’s started. She’s reached that goal, stayed on top for 10 years, and won’t let this past year define her. She is fortunate, she is blessed, but she is also the history-making, groundbreaking, never scared, always prepared, self-made, always paid, the woman of WWE.
Stephanie McMahon appeared in the crowd, with commentator Joe Tessitore congratulating McMahon on her new ESPN series, Stephanie’s Places. Among her guests will be Stone Cold Steve Austin, Roman Reigns, and Rhea Ripley. Click on the link for more info.
Naomi and Liv Morgan were set to go one-on-one, with Naomi gaining control early on with a series of maneuvers. Raquel, watching the match at ringside, distracted the referee which led to Liv gaining ground and dominating throughout the picture-in-picture break. The Girl with the Glow eventually rebounded, but the offense stayed equal among both competitors. Morgan would jump from the top of the turnbuckle onto Naomi for a near-fall. As Naomi looked to perform her split-legged moonsault, another attempted distraction by Rodriguez got her into an argument with Belair. When it seemed like Morgan would take advantage for a pinfall, Naomi would counter and get the win. Morgan and Big Mami Cool would attack both Naomi and Bianca and laid them on top of each other, putting the Women’s Tag Team Champions on notice.
After not being seen for almost the entire night, Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton was seen backstage, quietly walking around and minding her business when Zelina Vega appeared before her. The former LWO member, who was traded to SmackDown earlier this week in the transfer window, said that with her now being back on SmackDown, she doesn’t want to let this fresh start go to waste, and if she’s being honest, she has her sights set on The Buff Barbie’s title, and perhaps maybe the beginning of that journey starts tomorrow at the Royal Rumble. Stratton says good luck with that, as she’ll be sitting pretty while Vega will be fighting her “little life” against 29 other women just for a glimpse at her “Tiffy Title”.
After the show returned from commercials, Michael Cole and Pat McAfee then introduced Stratton for an in-ring interview segment. Cole is curious to know how Stratton’s life has changed since cashing in the Money in the Bank contract several weeks ago. Stratton says that this may be her first championship on SmackDown but she has always been championship material, and the only difference between now and a year ago is that everybody else knows it. McAfee says that now that she’s champion, everybody wants what she has, and tomorrow night at the Royal Rumble, 30 women are going to enter the Royal Rumble to try and win an opportunity to take the Women’s Championship from her. It could be a woman like Bianca Belair, Bayley, Candice LeRae, or Nia Jax. Stratton responds to these mentions by stating that it doesn’t matter who wins tomorrow because it is always Tiffy Time. If Nia Jax wants to go ahead and win the Royal Rumble tomorrow, that’s fine, because she’s underestimated her before…
The music of Candice LeRae interrupted The Center of the Universe’s tangent, as she called the Women’s Champion “pathetic” and not deserving to say Nia’s name after what she did by cashing in. LeRae believes that Stratton didn’t just betray Nia, she betrayed her also because of what the Poison Pixie thinks was jealousy, jealousy that Nia preferred her as a tag team partner over Stratton. LeRae warns her to enjoy what little bit of “Tiffy Time” she has left because she has entered the Royal Rumble and is going to make her regret ever stabbing them both in the back. Stratton retorts by saying that she is the champion and all LeRae will ever be is Nia Jax’s little sidekick unlike her, and she’ll never be able to – BAM!
Nia Jax appeared, accidentally running into LeRae and brawling with Stratton, ending with her performing the Annihilator on the Women’s Champion.
The 2025 Royal Rumble airs tomorrow night from the Lucas Oil Stadium on Peacock for viewers in the United States and on Netflix in the rest of the world. The event starts at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time and will include the women’s Royal Rumble match.
Meanwhile, Friday Night SmackDown will be broadcast next Friday from inside the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. While no women’s matches are advertised yet, there is sure to be much fallout from the Rumble, so be on the lookout for the recap article after the show.
Make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s edition of SmackDown in the comments below!
