Tonight's edition of WWE SmackDown Live was taped at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On tap for the show was the return of former 16-time WWE World Champion John Cena and New Day's New Years celebration. This episode will air next Tuesday on the first day of 2019.
(Below are the spoilers from the show):
* Fatal 5-Way graphic shown on the titantron. Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Mustafa Ali, AJ Styles and an unknown opponent will compete to determine who's facing Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble.
Looks like @JohnCena will end up joining this Fatal-5-Way match tonight. The winner will be facing @WWEDanielBryan for the WWE Championship at the #RoyalRumble #SDLive pic.twitter.com/ZokZMJwqt9
— JohnCenaCrews (@JohnCenaCrews) December 30, 2018
* New Day kicks off the show. They announce themselves for the Royal Rumble match. Also during their segment, Big E makes a joke similar to Scott Steiner's infamous math promo.
* Winner qualifies for the WWE Championship Fatal 5-Way Match
Samoa Joe def. Jeff Hardy
* Segment involving AJ Styles refusing to apologize to Vince McMahon for punching him last week.
* Kayla Braxton in the ring. Rusev and Lana come out for Rusev's United States Championship celebration. Shinsuke Nakamura ambushes Rusev during the celebration.
* Naomi was set to face Mandy Rose but Sonya Deville stepped in and took on Naomi instead. Sonya defeats Naomi after Mandy got on the mic and said she sent a inappropriate photo to Jimmy Uso.
So far the women had a 2 minute match which ended with this photo on the screen #SDLive pic.twitter.com/NQKtA1DPqh
— Kim (@kimberlasskick) December 30, 2018
* John Cena makes his return to WWE TV. Cena gets on the microphone and is interrupted by Becky Lynch. Becky tells John that she going to take him off the WWE posters like how she took Charlotte Flair off the posters and makes a remark about Nikki Bella. Zelina Vega and Andrade "Cien" Almas then interrupt Becky and Cena.
- John Cena & Becky Lynch vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas & Zelina Vega is made official.
- Cena is celebrating and pandering to the crowd. Lynch tosses Cena out of the ring. Zelina tries to roll Becky up but Becky counters into the "Disarm-Her" and picks up the win. Post-match Cena tries to shake Becky's hand but Becky hits Cena with the "You Can't See Me" hand gesture and walks off.
The greatest of all time, and John Cena. #WWE #SDLive pic.twitter.com/qT4yGOJi4z
— Juice Springsteen (@JuicySteen) December 30, 2018
Becky throws John out, wins by submitting Zelina #SDLive pic.twitter.com/JWqkSObvVJ
— – J O R D A N – SMACKDOWN SPOILERS (@brittsxcoles) December 30, 2018
Please get this man some hair product #SDLive pic.twitter.com/j7z95vzxsV
— joeIene (@sarayascabello) December 30, 2018
* Shane McMahon and The Miz segment
* Asuka is backstage with Triple H. Asuka makes it clear that she'll defend her title against anyone because nobody is ready for her. Carmella, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair appear to add their names as potential challengers to Asuka's title at the Royal Rumble. Triple H says he'll take things under consideration and get back to Asuka with an update on who she's defending her title against.
* Fatal 5-Way Match - Winner Faces Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble
AJ Styles def. Samoa Joe, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio and Mustafa Ali
End of main event. Styles wins. #SmackdownSpoilers #SDLive #SmackdownLive pic.twitter.com/JKHKL7Yyh2
— John Clark (@johnrclark12) December 30, 2018
The SmackDown TV tapings have concluded and to see the WWE RAW TV taping spoilers from last night, click here.
