Tonight’s broadcast of a sold-out SmackDown in Birmingham, AL featured Roman Reigns coming face-to-face with Cody Rhodes for the first time since Rhodes won his second Royal Rumble match. While Seth Rollins made a compelling case for Rhodes to challenge him at WrestleMania, Rhodes is fully expected to finish his story by challenging Reigns. Hours before SmackDown aired, there were also reports that both The Rock and CM Punk were backstage in Alabama.
SmackDown also featured an appearance from Logan Paul, and women’s Royal Rumble winner Bayley declaring whom her WrestleMania 40 opponent will be and
Last week’s broadcast of SmackDown garnered a viewership of 2.475 million.
WWE SmackDown Results | February 2, 2024
- Kevin Owens def. Austin Theory
- Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate win Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match
- Tiffany Stratton def. Michin
WWE SmackDown Ratings
- January 26, 2024 | 2.475 million
- January 19, 2025 | 2.408 million
- January 12, 2024 | 2.424 million
- January 5, 2024 | 2.465 million
- December 29, 2023 | 1.355 million
WWE SmackDown Ticket Sales
- WWE SmackDown Venue: Legacy Arena (Birmingham, AL)
- WWE SmackDown Tickets Distributed: 10,704
- Available Tickets: 18
Sad Truths About The Vince McMahon Lawsuit | PWB
WWE SmackDown Winners and Grades
Logan Paul Kicks Off SmackDown
Logan Paul started off by saying they don’t want him here and he doesn’t want to be there either.
Paul said Kevin Owens did more damage to Paul than Floyd Mayweather because Owens made him bleed.
Getting the “what” treatment, Logan Paul mocked all the injured Superstars—CM Punk, Seth Rollins, etc.—while calling himself “unbreakable,” despite the fact that he did get injured in 2022.
Kevin Owens Def. Austin Theory
Logan Paul appeared on commentary, and Corey Graves seemed pretty awkward in the play-by-play role.
Graves was hamstrung having to play the neutral party and not being able to cape for Logan Paul. He’s talented enough to eventually ease into this role, but it’s tough sledding early on.
Austin Theory gets better every week. This week, Kevin Owens learned his lesson and used brass knuckles, but obscured them from the referee’s vision to ensure the victory.
Dunne And Bate Win Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match
Prior to this Fatal 4-Way tag team match was a vignette showing Santos Escobar leading a toast to “eradicate” LWO.
Joaquim Wilde asked the field “you wanna go viral?” before a handful of competitors launched him into the rest of the tag team. It was very impressive, but whether or not it will go viral remains to be seen.
Wilde and Del Toro took everybody out, with help from Zelina Vega, who the turned her attention to Elektra Lopez with a Meteora.
Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate won this match, meaning they advanced to the finals and will face the winners of the WWE Raw Fatal 4-Way tag team match.
Bayley Challenges Iyo Sky At WrestleMania 40
WWE rushed Bayley’s face-turn and feud with Iyo Sky as Damage CTRL were talking trash about Bayley backstage. Unfortunately for them, Bayley could overhear her.
Wade Barrett lost a lot of credibility by saying he couldn’t wait to see whom Bayley was going to challenge, which came after Bayley overheard Iyo bashing Bayley backstage.
Bayley began speaking Japanese to Damage CTRL, saying she could understand what they said behind her back. Bayley then challenged Iyo Sky in a great, if not rushed, moment. The Kabuki Warriors and Iyo then attacked Bayley as fans booed profusely.
Bayley grabbed a pipe from under the ring and cleaned house. She then challenged Iyo Sky to a WrestleMania match as the crowd popped.
Tiffany Stratton Def. Michin
Prior to this match was a brawl between Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits and the Final Testament. Team Lashley was saved by the returning B-Fab.
This seems a way too early for Tiffany Stratton to compete on the main roster, but as a highly athletic gymnast, Stratton should eventually swim just fine after being thrown in the deep end.
This was advertised as the SmackDown main event at 6:20, which means The Rock will probably cut his garden-variety half-hour promo.
This wasn’t that bad of a debut for Stratton by any means.
Cody Rhodes Makes His Decision, The Rock Returns
Roman Reigns eviscerated Seth Rollins. He started out by mentioning Rollins’ name, then saying “exactly, no pop!” He called Seth his “little brother.” He said Rollins can’t call himself the man running around in his wife’s clothes. He said Rollins broke his back three months into trying to carry WWE Raw. Then he began liming and asked Alabama if a workhorse “walks like this?” Reigns seemed legitimately annoyed by all the talk of him being a part-timer, saying he works 10-times less than Rollins but makes 10-times more money. This may have been the greatest promo of Reigns’ career. Crazy.
Fans chanted “Cody!” as soon as Rhodes’ music cut off. Rhodes said he’s coming for Roman Reigns’ title, but not at WrestleMania. This prompted The Rock to return. The Rock faced off with Roman Reigns as SmackDown went off the air.