SmackDown Results: CM Punk faces off with Kevin Owens

January 31, 2025 John Kleinchester NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: WWE

January 31, 2025
Gainbridge Fieldhouse – Indianapolis, IN

By: John Kleinchester

WWE Smackdown Results

  • Jimmy Uso over Carmelo Hayes via Roll-Up in 8:31
  • Women’s United States Championship: Michin over Chelsea Green via DQ in 6:17
  • MCMG & Los Garza over DIY & Pretty Deadly via Roll-Up in 12:09
  • Naomi over Liv Morgan via Roll-Up in 10:22
  • Andrade over The Miz via Spinning Back Elbow in 10:02
  • Damian Priest & LA Knight over Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga via South of Heaven in 14:46

 

Let Royal Rumble Weekend Begin

The final Smackdown before Royal Rumble kicked off with Michael Cole introducing “the reason the Royal Rumble was in Indianapolis” Pat McAfee. McAfee hyped up the Rumble tomorrow and how much he loves Indianapolis. Cole then threw it to Joe Tessitore in the rin where the WWE Championship and Winged Eagle were hanging from the ceiling. Tessitore then welcomed Kevin Owens to the ring. Tessitore wanted to know what they were missing about Kevin Owens and apologized if their coverage wasn’t to his liking. Owens declined his apology and took the Winged Eagle and went to leave when CM Punk’s music hit.

Punk apologized for interrupting and looking past Owens for WrestleMania. Owens said that he liked twenty-nine other guys better than CM Punk but the thought of him beating Punk in the main event of WrestleMania is appealing to him. Even more appealing to Owens was the idea that Punk would never get to the main event of WrestleMania. Punk noted that he had never lost five title matches at the Royal Rumble, but Owens has. Punk has never lost to Logan Paul. Punk has never manipulated and stabbed his best friend in the back. Punk then challenged Owens to get back in the ring so he could kick his ass but Owens left instead.

Miz & Andrade

Backstage, The Miz was complaining to Nick Aldis about A-Town Down Under and Andrade not recognizing his greatness last week. Miz said he would punch him in the face if he were there – Andrade then appeared and Miz walked it back. Andrade then challenged Miz to a match tonight and Miz accepted. 

 

Jimmy Uso vs. Carmelo Hayes Part II

The first match of the evening saw a rematch from two weeks ago between Jimmy Uso and Carmelo Hayes. Footage was shown of Hayes jumping Jimmy Uso before Jimmy’s match with Kevin Owens last week. Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton was ringside and Carmelo Hayes attempted to get in his face only to have Jimmy Uso take him out right in front of the NBA player. Jimmy Uso picked up the win in this one by rolling Hayes up with a handful of tights. 

Women’s United States Championship

Next up was Chelsea Green defending the Women’s US Championship against Michin yet again. Piper Niven was in Green’s corner as per usual, and Michin had B-Fab with her to attempt to balance things out. At one point, Michin hit Green with Eat Defeat but Piper Niven pulled Chelsea out of the ring. B-Fab then took out Niven so Chelsea Green grabbed Michin’s Kendo stick and hit Michin with it, causing the disqualification and presumably continuing this feud. Michin then commandeered the Kendo stick and nailed Chelsea with it. 

Naomi & Belair

Backstage, Byron Saxton as the Women’s Tag Champs what would happen if they were the final two competitors in the Royal Rumble tomorrow? They repeated what they said last week about one of them winning and then turned their attention to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez coming after their tag titles saying they better be “ready to rumble”.  

 

Charlotte Promo 

Another Charlotte promo package aired, this time there was no immediate Tiffany Stratton appearance afterward.

Damian Priest & Jacob Fatu

Damian Priest was out next and ran through his whole history since he arrived at Raw four years ago but said that was the past and now he is on Smackdown. His new goal was championships and he was going to throw “asses” out of the ring tomorrow night. Jacob Fatu’s music then played to a pretty significant pop. Fatu got into the ring, accompanied by Tama Tonga, and said that Priest accomplished way more than all the “suckers” in the back. Fatu said that he was “off the leash” and “all gas, no breaks” now and he and Tonga were running Smackdown now. Priest then superkicked Tonga and brawled with Fatu but it didn’t last long as Tonga recovered and the two teamed up on Priest. This brought out LA Knight who ran down and evened the odds. Knight then challenged them to a tag team match later tonight.

8-Man Tag Team Action

Motor City Machine Guns approached Legado del Fantasma in the back and said they didn’t like each other but they had to work together tonight to win. Los Garza said that if MCMG beat DIY at the Rumble, they’re coming after them. This led directly into DIY and Pretty Deadly taking on MCMG & Los Garza. Chris Sabin took the majority of the beatdown of this match with the announcers wondering if he’ll be 100% for their title match tomorrow night. Tommaso Ciampa then accidentally booted Elton Prince and Kit Wilson refused a tag because of it. This led to Sabin rolling up Ciampa for the win. 

Backstage after the match, Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga were walking in the back when Tonga spotted the tag titles and stared them down before Ciampa snatched them away. Ciampa then started yelling at Pretty Deadly and PD told them they were on their own tomorrow night. 

 

Tyrese Haliburton and Crowdsurfing

Michael Cole and Pat McAfee welcomed Tyrese Haliburton and McAfee showed footage of Michael Cole and Cody Rhodes crowdsurfing at the Royal Rumble Kickoff Event. They then threw to a hype video for the Ladder Match between Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes.

Liv Morgan vs. Naomi

The next match on the card was Liv Morgan with Raquel Rodriguez taking on Naomi with Bianca Belair. Morgan was able to utilize Rodriguez at ringside to gain an early advantage and Belair seemed useless to stop her. After the ad break, Belair finally had enough of Rodriguez and took her out. This led to a series of roll-ups until Naomi kept Morgan down for the three count. Before the faces could celebrate, Morgan and Rodriguez jumped the tag champs and then Rodriguez powerbombed Liv Morgan onto both Belair and Naomi. 

Andrade vs. The Miz

Next was Andrade taking on The Miz who was attempting to hang with Andrade by executing a flying headscissors early on in the match. After a commercial break, Andrade hit a Spanish Fly off the top rope on The Miz as the crowd suddenly chanted “This is awesome”. Andrade and Miz went for a series of roll-ups until Andrade hit a spinning back elbow out of nowhere for the win. 

Priest, Escobar, R-Truth, LA Knight, and a Lurking Nakamura

Backstage, Santos Escobar welcomed Damian Priest to Smackdown and said that Legado del Fantasma could be good allies for him. Priest then ran into R-Truth who thought they were at Raw. Then LA Knight approached making sure they were on the same page for their main event match tonight. In the background, Shinsuke Nakamura could be seen pacing back and forth with his United States Championship.

Zelina & Tiffy, Candice & Tiffy

Zelina Vega approached Tiffany Stratton in the back saying she had her sights set on Stratton’s championship. Stratton wished her luck. After the commercial break, Pat McAfee and Michael Cole interviewed Tiffany Stratton in the ring and talked about thirty women going after her title tomorrow. This brought out Candice LeRae who called Stratton jealous of her relationship with Nia Jax. Jax then attempted to jump Stratton but flattened LeRae instead. Stratton got some shots in on Jax before being annihilated by Jax as Stratton was left lying. 

 

Jacob Fatu & Tama Tonga vs. Damian Priest & LA Knight

The main event of Smackdown featured the match set up earlier in the show with Fatu and Tonga teaming up to take on Priest and Knight. This match was designed to highlight Damian Priest but the crowd clearly sees something special in Fatu. 

At one point, Damian Priest launched both Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu into the announce table. Knight then clobbered Jacob Fatu over the barricade into the timekeeper’s area. Priest then caught Tonga by the throat and clotheslined him, following up with South of Heaven for the win. Jacob Fatu then reemerged and hit his moonsault on Priest to end the show.

 

 

Final Thoughts

This week we only had two matches that Smackdown GM Nick Aldis made after 8pm Eastern: Miz/Andrade and Priest/Knight vs Tonga/Fatu (the main event no less). This show was essentially just spinning its wheels and selling the Rumble tomorrow night. It’s only been a few weeks but these three-hour Smackdowns are just brutal to sit through. 

About John Kleinchester 214 Articles
John Kleinchester is a wrestling reporter from New Jersey, covering the sport since 2022. He is a graduate of Ithaca College and can be reached at jkleinchester@gmail.com.
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