WWE SmackDown, January 24: Early Expectations for the Show

A look at what to expect on the January 24 edition of SmackDown Live after the events that unfolded this week.

Another week of strong programming continued on SmackDown Live. The blue brand would kick off with a major announcement from Shane McMahon. Despite opening with an authority figure’s announcement, the show felt anything but Raw-like. Shane would announce that in four weeks WWE title would be defended inside the elimination chamber. The announcement would follow-up with verbal jabs from AJ Styles, John Cena and The Miz.

The show would then kick-off the in-ring portion with a match between the Miz and Styles. Later during the match, Styles would throw Miz onto Cena who was coincidentally a guest commentator. The new aggressive Cena would then proceed to shove the Miz on to the guard rails, drawing disqualification win for former IC champion.

Elsewhere on the show, Dean Ambrose battled Randy Orton in a non-title match. The match would act as a plot tool to further the issues between Orton and Harper. Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler would make his return to SmackDown as well. He would host his talk show, the King’s court with Dolph Ziggler. King would eventually get super kicked by Ziggler to close out the segment.

Finally, SmackDown would close off the show with a great steel cage match for the Women’s championship. As expected, La Luchadora would make an interference and save Bliss once more. However, the post-match brawl revealed the masked competitor to be none other than the returning Mickie James. Strong segments and opportune storytelling would once again create a compelling episode of SmackDown. Based on the events the played out in front of us, what could we expect from the show next week?