The January 3, 2025 edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown emanated out of the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. This was the first three-hour edition of SmackDown, kicking off the new year with Lilian Garcia taking over ring announcer duties and a rather sparse lineup promoting the episode.
For those who missed the first SmackDown of the year, here are the results of all the matches that took place, as well as notes on the other highlights that happened during this episode.
— The show started with footage of last week's episode, breaking down the situation between SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis ordering Kevin Owens to hand over the Winged Eagle WWE Championship title, as he's not the rightful champion, and the setup of Cody Rhodes challenging Owens to a ladder match for the belt at Royal Rumble.
After that, Cody Rhodes cut a promo where he said he was technically not cleared to wrestle tonight. Drew McIntyre interrupted. He gave some words of wisdom to The American Nightmare about how he (Cody) is the quarterback of the best roster the company has ever had and Rhodes needs a friend to watch his back, so he's there as part of the transfer window. He always tells the truth. Rhodes equated his experience of leaving WWE to come back and "finish the story" to what happened with McIntyre as well, and put over The Scottish Warrior's successes, but he doesn't believe him, and he knows that Drew wants a shot at the title. McIntyre reiterated that he's here to help him, not hurt him, and as he was leaving, told him to watch his back, just as Kevin Owens jumped Rhodes from behind. McIntyre just casually walked away and officials came out to separate Rhodes and Owens.
— Non-Title Match: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Andrade by pinfall. After the match, LA Knight attacked Nakamura.
— Backstage, Apollo Crews was approached by Pretty Deadly, mad at him for stooging on them last week. Legado del Fantasma then came over to Kit Wilson and Elton Prince, mad about how Pretty Deadly threw Los Garza under the bus. Nick Aldis and some officials broke up a fight that was about to break out. After the commercial break, DIY told Pretty Deadly that they would make great No. 1 contenders, but it's very important Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa retain their tag titles tonight over the Motor City Machine Guns.
— Michin defeated Piper Niven (accompanied by WWE Women's United States Champion Chelsea Green) by pinfall
— Paul Heyman cut a promo hyping up the Tribal Combat match on Raw this coming Monday night. Solo Sikoa came out to say he wants Heyman to hold the ula fala during the match and to award it to the winner.
— WWE Tag Team Championship Match: #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) (c) vs The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) ended in a no-contest as Pretty Deadly and Los Garza were brawling and everyone spilled into the ring, causing the referee to throw the match out just as MCMG were able to make DIY tap out.
— WWE Women's Championship Match: Nia Jax (c) defeated Naomi to retain her title. However, right after, Tiffany Stratton cashed in her Money in the Bank contract and pinned Nia Jax to win the WWE Women's Championship!
— Six-Man Tag Team Match: The New Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga) defeated The OG Bloodline (Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso and Sami Zayn) by pinfall.
What do you think of these results? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!