WWE SmackDown: Spoilers for January 22

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If you plan on watching WWE SmackDown this Thursday, please check out other posts on Daily DDT.

Last night, the latest edition of SmackDown was taped from Austin, Texas. This was the final show before this Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

The action was loaded this evening, as the three formerly “fired” Superstars made their return to television. We also saw Daniel Bryan in action. He battled Kane to try to secure his Royal Rumble spot.

Check out the spoilers below, via Wrestling Inc.

Michael Cole and Byron Saxton came out to a decent pop. Jerry Lawler got a huge pop.

"Daniel Bryan kicks off the show and introduces Ryback, Dolph Ziggler and Erick Rowan. The “fired” WWE Superstars return to a big pop. Rowan spoke and got the “what?” treatment. They’re interrupted by The Authority, minus Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. It’s announced that the three Superstars can get into the Royal Rumble main event if they win their matches tonight – Ziggler vs. Bad News Barrett, Ryback vs. Rusev and Rowan vs. Luke Harper."

"Ziggler vs. Barrett in a non-title match is up first. Ziggler gets the win with a Zig Zag and earns his spot in the Royal Rumble match."

"Renee Young interviewed Roman Reigns about the Royal Rumble match. One correspondent said it actually wasn’t awful and another said Reigns is looking more confident on the mic."

"Ryback defeated Rusev by count out after what was said to be a good match. Ryback earns his spot in the Rumble main event. After the match, Rusev attacked and beat on Ryback but Ryback turned it around. Rusev avoided a Shellshocked attempt and retreated to the back."

"Brie Bella defeated Naomi in a short match. Nikki Bella was at ringside while Paige and Natalya were on commentary."

"Luke Harper defeated Erick Rowan after a missed top rope splash. Rowan does not qualify for the Royal Rumble."

"Backstage segment with The Miz and Damien Sandow, who are announced for the Rumble. There’s dissension between the two. Miz talks down at Sandow for the X-Pac segment on RAW."

"Kane vs. Daniel Bryan in a No DQ match is up next. Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble come out with Kane. Kane ended up tapping out but the referee didn’t call it for some reason. Mercury and Noble interfere. Bryan cleans house but kicks out of a chokeslam. Bryan comes back and gets the win, keeping his spot in the Royal Rumble. Big Show comes out and attacks Bryan. This leads to a huge brawl with the entire locker room coming out. The Superstars left standing after that brawl were Ziggler, Reigns, Bryan, Ryback, Big Show, Kane and Dean Ambrose. SmackDown ends with just the babyfaces standing tall."

Wow, this was certainly a big night of action on Smackdown. It is certainly something we’re not used to, but WWE has been taking the show seriously for the first two Thursday shows, so this is a great sign.

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While it wasn’t surprising to see Bryan, Ziggler, and Ryback retain their Royal Rumble spots, this clearly showed how much faith WWE has in Erick Rowan. This loss seems like WWE’s way of throwing him down the food chain even further so he sits in the low-card. They weren’t using Rowan overly well while The Authority was out, as he jobbed to a few stars. Once they returned, he was placed back into this prominent feud because he was in the Survivor Series match. Now that the feud is over, they’re tossing him away.

For the final note of these spoilers; hopefully this segment between The Miz and Damien Mizdow shows some real signs of dissension. They need to split at the Rumble by Mizdow tossing Miz over the top rope to begin a feud that will culminate on the WrestleMania 31 under-card.

Those were my thoughts on the Smackdown taping results, what are yours?