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WWE SmackDown Results [12/27/24]: Cody Rhodes vs Kevin Owens Royal Rumble Match Set

Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens will fight for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble in a ladder match!

Rick Ucchino

Cody Rhodes confronts Kevin Owens
Cody Rhodes confronts Kevin Owens / WWE.com

The final SmackDown of 2024 is now in the books as WWE fans packed the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida Friday night.

It was the final two hour version of the show and WWE jam-packed as much as they could into this episode. Including the latest in the Kevin Owens and Cody Rhodes saga. KO was given an ultimatum at the beginning of the show by SmackDown GM Nick Aldis to hand over the winged eagle title belt or be fired.

Before Owens could make his decision, Cody Rhodes returned to SmackDown and promised to take care of KO himself. He issued a major challenge for the WWE Royal Rumble.

Chelsea Green was officially introduced as the inaugural Women's United States Champion, but her celebration was quickly crashed by Michin. Tiffany Stratton and Nia Jax remain at odds with one another after another failed MITB cash-in attempt and Bianca Belair is still searching for whomever attacked Jade Cargill.

Meantime, Pretty Deadly tried to pull one over on the Street Profits, but got busted by Apollo Crews.

Here's everything you might have missed on the 12/27 edition of Friday Night SmackDown.

Full SmackDown Match and Segment Results:

  • The show opens with a video recap of the events that lead up to Kevin Owens' post match assault on Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night's Main Event.
  • SmackDown GM Nick Aldis gave Kevin Owens until the end of the show to relinquish the winged eagle title belt that he stole from Cody Rhodes in New York or face severe consequences.
  • Bianca Belair finally buried the hatchet with Bayley ahead of their six-woman tag team match. She gave her long-time rival a double thumbs up when asked if everything is all good between them.
  • Nia Jax accused Bianca Belair of attacking her own tag team partner ahead of Survivor Series WarGames. The WWE Women's Champion claimed that Belair didn't want to share the spotlight with Jade Cargill due to her being bigger, stronger and better in the ring than the E-S-T. Jax even pointed to the fact that Bianca wasted no time in replacing Cargill with Naomi to hang on to the Women's Tag Team Championships.
  • Bianca Belair, Bayley and Naomi defeated Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton and Candice LeRae. Tiffany attempted to cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase while Nia Jax was down in the center of the ring. Candice stopped her attempt and as the two of them argued, Naomi snuck up on LeRae and spiked her with a full nelson slam to pick up the win for her team.
  • Sami Zayn interrupted A-Town Down Under as they are meeting backstage with Nick Aldis. Grayson Waller was demanding that WWE cover the cost of damages done to his new talk show set by Braun Strowman. Aldis told Waller to take any issues up with Strowman himself, who will face Austin Theory next.
  • Back from commercial break, Zayn told Nick Aldis he came to SmackDown to get a piece of The Bloodline since they keep invading Monday Night Raw. They are interrupted by Carmelo Hayes, who was handing out Christmas cards that commemorated his win over Braun Strowman last week. Feeling disrespected, Zayn asked for Hayes one-on-one and Aldis gladly made the match official.
  • Braun Strowman beat Austin Theory with a running powerslam. Theory had the big man in position for A-Town Down, thanks to an assist from Grayson Waller, but he couldn't hold Strowman up long enough and immediately ran into the Braun's finisher.
  • Kevin Owens cut a promo from his car. He says he heard everything that Nick Aldis had to say earlier in the night, but he's not just going to give up the WWE Championship belt that he claimed is rightfully in his possession. He said he'll chat with Aldis later in the night, as long as it's just the two of them alone in the ring together.
  • Piper Niven, dressed in her best, introduced Chelsea Green as the first and longest reigning Women's United States Champion. Green said the Blue Brand is now the Green House and she thanked the one woman who made her triumph at Saturday Night's Main Event possible... herself. She asked the WWE Universe to ask not what Chelsea Green can do for them, but what they can do for Chelsea Green.
  • Michin interrupted Green's celebration and said that if it wasn't for Piper Niven, she would be the Women's United States Champion. She rushed the ring with a kendo stick, but Green escaped without receiving much punishment.
  • Nick Aldis is backstage with The Street Profits. They approached WWE Tag Team Champions #DIY and claimed to have two eye witnesses from the assault on Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins a few weeks back. Pretty Deadly emerge and pin the blame at Los Garza, after they unsuccessfully attempted to solicit funding for their musical. Ford and Dawkins then rushed their alleged attackers, before Aldis sent both teams to the ring.
  • The Street Profits defeated Los Garza with a Doomsday Blockbuster after B-Fab took out Elektra Lopez with a pump kick.
  • A video package airs featuring Andrade. He claimed that the mind games of Shinsuke Nakamura have no effect on him. He plans to expose the United States Champion the next time they meet, calling himself inevitable.
  • Apollo Crews outed #DIY as the real men behind the backstage attack on the Street Profits, but not before MCMG told Ford and Dawkins they need to get to the back of the line when it comes to getting a WWE Tag Team Championship opportunity.
  • Sami Zayn defeated Carmelo Hayes via count out... or disqualification. It was hard to tell, honestly. As Zayn was looking to finish off Hayes with a Helluva Kick, Melo ducked out of the ring and quit on the match. Hayes was walking up the ramp when Braun Strowman's music hit. The Monster Among Men chased Melo to the back, which created the perfect opportunity for the Bloodline to attack Zayn.
  • Sami Zayn attempted to fight off the three-on-one assault, but the numbers were too great to overcome. Braun Strowman came down to lend an assist but he too was laid out by Solo Sikoa and company.
  • Kevin Owens and Nick Aldis closed out the show in the ring together. SmackDown's GM again asked KO to hand over the winged eagle title belt or be fired. Before he could respond, Cody Rhodes made his return to SmackDown and begged Nick Aldis to let him handle KO on his own. Rhodes doesn't want Owens to hand over that title. He wants to take it from him. He wants a match where the ref can't 'screw' KO and where the ref can't stop Rhodes from exacting the level of revenge he has in mind. He challenged Owens to a Ladder Match at the Royal Rumble and Nick Aldis made it official.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino has been covering professional wrestling since 2019, but his broadcast career has spanned over 15 years. He can be heard every weekday morning on 700WLW radio in Cincinnati, OH. You can also read his work over on SI's Cincinnati Reds Talk. Follow Rick on X and Instagram: @RickUcchino

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