WWE SmackDown Live Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for January 17

Shane McMahon’s Major Announcement

SmackDown Live starts off with a pretty cool promo for the title match between Alexa Bliss and Becky Lynch later in the night. Shane McMahon then makes his entrance to make his huge announcement. It doesn’t take long for “Shane O’Mac” chants to fill the arena, and Shane is clearly grateful for the love the crowd is showing. He takes a moment to hype up the stars which have currently been announced for the Royal Rumble match. Then comes his major announcement, that in four weeks time the WWE Champion will defend the title inside the elimination chamber.

This brings out the current champion AJ Styles, who is angered by this announcement. Shane is quick to remind Styles that he might not even be the champion after the Royal Rumble, and that perhaps it’ll be John Cena holding the title. Styles takes exception to the comment and things get personal between the two men until Cena makes his entrance.

Before John Cena can even utter a word, the crowd gets solidly behind Styles and is quick to applaud his angry tirade. It isn’t long before Styles begins to insult the fans for never truly caring about him, and then moments later The Miz comes out as well. Alongside his wife Maryse, Miz dishes out some decent insults at Styles before talking about his past victories over Cena. Claiming that he brought prestige back to the Intercontinental Championship, he goes on to say that fans talk about him and not the WWE Championship. Miz and Styles go back and forth for a bit longer (while being goaded by Cena), so Shane announces Miz versus Styles will happen after the break.