The Christmas edition of Friday Night SmackDown was highlighted by Big E. winning the Intercontinental Championship in the main event.
In an episode that should do a solid viewership figure based on the NFL lead-in, the program was geared around long matches with three championships defended. The show was taped this past Tuesday allowing the performers and staff to have Christmas Day off.
In the main event, Big E. pinned Sami Zayn in a lumberjack match to become the new Intercontinental champion. The match ended with the lumberjacks carrying Zayn back to the ring after an attempt to escape and proceeded to be hit with the Big Ending.
Afterward, the lumberjacks hoisted Big E. as confetti engulfed the ThunderDome for a celebratory scene placing the title win in its important context.
It’s Big E.’s second time winning the championship with the first occurring over seven years ago in November 2013 when he defeated Curtis Axel.
The most newsworthy announcement on the program was Daniel Bryan declaring himself the first entrant for the Royal Rumble on January 31st. Bryan stated he’s never won a Rumble and that’s his goal.
The show also featured Asuka & Charlotte Flair retaining the WWE women’s tag titles against Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair and Bayley & Carmella in a triple threat elimination match. It ended with Belair being hit by Asuka’s codebreaker into the Natural Selection by Flair, who pinned Belair.
Throughout the match, it was teased that The Riott Squad is awaiting the champions for the next challenge as they watched from the backstage area.
The show opened with Roman Reigns defeating Kevin Owens in a steel cage match to retain the WWE Universal championship. It was a pay-per-view level match lasting over twenty-six minutes of television time (including commercials). The finish saw Jey Uso appear ringside and handcuff Owens to the cage as Reigns exited through the dark as Owens called him “a bitch”.
