WWE title number one contendership qualifying matches set for next week’s SmackDown
A match for the number one contendership for the WWE Championship is set for Saturday Night’s Main Event, with qualifying matches set for next week’s SmackDown.
Prior to Friday’s main event, Nick Aldis announced that four qualifying matches will take place on next week’s SmackDown in London. The winners of those matches will then advance to Saturday Night’s Main Event on January 24. The winner of that match will then face the WWE Champion at this year’s Royal Rumble, which takes place on January 31 in Saudi Arabia.
The four qualifying matches on next week’s SmackDown features Randy Orton squaring off against The Miz, Trick Williams facing Matt Cardona, Damian Priest wrestling Solo Sikoa, and Sami Zayn competing against Ilja Dragunov.
In the main event of Friday’s show, Drew McIntyre won the WWE Championship after defeating Cody Rhodes. Jacob Fatu interfered at the end of the third fall in the Three Stages of Hell match, laying out McIntyre and also Rhodes once he tried to intervene. Rhodes and Fatu exchanged blows in the corner as McIntyre escaped from the cage, winning his third WWE Championship.
WWE SmackDown (January 16):
- SNME number one contendership qualifying match: Randy Orton vs. The Miz
- SNME number one contendership qualifying match: Solo Sikoa vs. Damian Priest
- SNME number one contendership qualifying match: Matt Cardona vs. Trick Williams
- SNME number one contendership qualifying match: Sami Zayn vs. Ilja Dragunov
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.