Women’s title match, Solo Sikoa return announced for next WWE SmackDown
Tiffany Stratton will make her first Women’s Championship defense, plus Solo Sikoa returns on next week’s WWE SmackDown.
Bayley won a number one contender’s match on this week’s SmackDown to earn the right to challenge Stratton. In a backstage segment later in the program, Byron Saxton announced that the match will take place on the January 17 SmackDown. The bout will be Stratton’s first defense since defeating Nia Jax for the title on last week’s SmackDown.
Friday’s number one contender’s four-way also featured the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Naomi and Bianca Belair, a bit of creative quite similar to that proposed to Naomi and Sasha Banks/Mercedes Mone when they walked out of the company in 2022.
Solo Sikoa’s return to SmackDown is also set for next Friday’s episode. Sikoa lost to Roman Reigns in Tribal Combat on this week’s Raw, and was absent from SmackDown.
Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley) vs. Los Garza (Angel & Berto) will also take place next week, as the SmackDown tag team division jockeys to position themselves for a title shot at current WWE Tag Team Champions DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa).
The announced card for the Friday, January 17 WWE SmackDown:
- WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton defends against Bayley
- Solo Sikoa returns
- Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) vs. Los Garza (Angel & Berto)