WWE returns with their weekly two-hour blue brand program this evening.
WWE Friday Night SmackDown returns this evening at 8/7c on FOX from the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
On tap for tonight’s show is the return of WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Randy Orton vs. Jimmy Uso, Carmelo Hayes vs. Grayson Waller and Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory in U.S. Title Contender Tournament matches and more.
Featured below are complete WWE Friday Night SmackDown results from Friday, December 15, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 8-10pm EST. on FOX.
WWE FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN RESULTS (12/15/2023)
The WWE “Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature airs and then we shoot inside the Resch Center in Green Bay, WI.
The Bloodline Kicks Off This Week’s Show
Roman Reigns’ theme hits and out comes “The Tribal Chief” accompanied by Paul Heyman, Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso. They settle in the ring and the music dies down. Reigns tells Green Bay to acknowledge him and then tells them “Alright, now shut up.”
He talks about it being the holiday season and he’s one to give praise where its’ due. Reigns goes on to offer high praise for this person as the next in line after him, while Jimmy Uso stands behind him assuming it’s him. The fans chant for Randy Orton but Reigns says of course it’s not Orton.
He says the next Tribal Chief is …”Jimmy, enjoy me in congratulating your brother, Solo!” He hugs Solo as Jimmy looks comedically bummed out. Randy Orton’s theme hits before anything else can happen and out comes “The Apex Predator” interrupting “The Tribal Chief.”
Randy Orton Interrupts & Confronts The Bloodline
Corey Graves speculates that this won’t end well on commentary as we head into a commercial break. When we return, Orton is in the ring and he tells Reigns for 18 months he’s been thinking about this moment and what he’s gonna say. The only thing he needs to say to him, however, is that he’s coming for him.
Orton says you took 18 months from me so he’s gonna take everything from him. He says he doesn’t care which one of his family members he has to go through to get the job done, but it starts tonight and it ends at the Royal Rumble. He challenges Reigns for the Universal Championship.
Reigns says based on the fan reaction, it sounds like he deserves it. He says Orton might have been thinking about this for 18 months, but he hasn’t thought about him at all. He says Orton hasn’t done anything to earn this opportunity, therefore he can go to the back of the line where he belongs.
Reigns says everyone thinks all they have to do is show up and get an opportunity. Reigns tells Orton it’s not 2007 anymore. He says he’s levels above him and everyone else. He says the voices in Orton’s head are telling him to run and he should listen to them. Orton gives credit to Reigns for evolving, but he says he’s evolved as well.
He calls Reigns a legend but reminds him that one thing he’s always been is a legend killer. The crowd pops as Orton goes for an RKO out of nowhere, but Reigns avoids it. Orton gets back on the mic and says he hasn’t been thinking about him but maybe he should start.
He says hold on he’s getting something from the voices in his head. He says they’re telling him that Roman might have just crapped his pants. He says there’s one more thing they said and he’ll leave him with this, “Daddy’s back!” He drops the mic and walks off.
U.S. Title Contender Tournament
Carmelo Hayes vs. Grayson Waller
Michael Cole, Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves run down the advertised lineup for tonight’s show and then introduce a special video package on former NXT World Champion Carmelo Hayes, who will be squaring off against Grayson Waller in U.S. title contender tournament action in our first match of the evening.
When the package wraps up, we return inside the Resch Center where we hear the familiar sounds of Grayson Waller’s theme music. Out comes the host of The Grayson Waller Effect for this first round tournament bout. As he heads to the ring, we shift gears and head into a quick pre-match commercial break.
As we return, we see Carmelo Hayes makes his way to the ring as a split screen video from U.S. Champion Logan Paul mocking his “can’t miss” moniker by saying he’s missed his whole career. He wishes good luck to the random guy and then we settle back in the ring where the bell sounds to get this one off-and-running.
After some back-and-forth action, we shift gears and head into a mid-match commercial break with Waller in the offensive lead. When we return, we see Hayes fight from underneath back into competitive form before he ultimately picks up the win after hitting his top-rope finisher for the pin fall to advance in the tournament.
Winner and ADVANCING in the tournament: Carmelo Hayes
LA Knight Approaches Randy Orton Backstage
We shoot backstage and we see Randy Orton walking when he is approached by LA Knight. They talk as friends that don’t really like each other, much like their interaction on last week’s show. They both vow to be the one who is going to take out The Bloodline.
U.S. Title Contender Tournament
Kevin Owens vs. Austin Theory
Back inside the arena, Kevin Owens’ theme hits and “The Prize Fighter” makes his way down to the ring for our next U.S. title contender tournament match of the evening. As he settles in the ring, we shift to a quick pre-match commercial break.
When we return, Austin Theory’s theme hits and out comes the former U.S. Champion. As he makes his way to the ring, once again we see the reigning U.S. Champion Logan Paul appear in a box in the corner of the screen talking trash about the competitors in the U.S. title contender tournament.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. We see Owens start off strong, but Theory ends up taking over. The commentators talk about the issues Owens has been having with his injured hand. Theory takes full advantage of it, targeting his offense there on Owens.
Owens fights back and knocks Theory out to the floor, but again we see Theory quickly take back over control on offense. He hoists Owens up and slams him down on the hard part of the ring apron right before we head into a mid-match commercial break.
As we settle back in from the break, we see Owens coming off the top with a frog splash. He connects with it but immediately sells his hand injury. Theory fights back but again Owens takes over while holding his injured paw. He goes for the pop up power bomb but drops Theory because of the hand.
We see a wild Spanish Fly off the top-rope from Theory but Owens kicks out of the follow-up pin attempt. Off the top-rope, Owens counters a super-plex and sends Theory flying with a huge avalanche spot. He sells his hand and crawls for the cover, but Theory crawls out of the ring to keep himself alive in this one.
On the floor, Theory continues to try and further injure Owens’ hand, but Owens fights back and ends up pulling off the win. With the win, Owens will move on to face Carmelo Hayes next week in the semifinals.
Winner and ADVANCING in the tourney: Kevin Owens
Roman Reigns Lays Out Orders For Tonight
Backstage we see Roman Reigns calmly talking about The Bloodline’s plans and how Jimmy Uso needs to take out Randy Orton tonight. Uso says that sounds like a job for the future Tribal Chief Solo Sikoa.
Reigns says it’s promotion season and tells him how it would benefit his future to be the one to take out Orton. Uso says “Yeet!” Reigns looks pissed. Uso says “No Yeet!” We head to a commercial break.
Carmelo Hayes Confronts Kevin Owens Backstage
We return from the break to see a Karrion Kross vignette hyping his return and then some of the Green Bay Packers NFL players are shown in the crowd. We head backstage and see Kevin Owens nursing his hand after his victory. Cameron Grimes says he wishes he could’ve punched Austin Theory in the face like him.
As Owens continues to walk, he is stopped by Kayla Braxton who talks about him advancing in the tourney. As he answers, up walks his opponent for next week, Carmelo Hayes. Hayes tells him he needs this more than him and he won’t be getting punched in the face. He walks off.
After that, we see footage of Charlotte Flair’s injury from last week and then we shoot to a vignette where Bayley talks about Damage CTRL. IYO SKY appears and says it’s IYO’s Era now and says no one can stop her. Bayley says with the Kabuki Warriors they are tougher than ever.
The rest of Damage CTRL appears and talks about raising the bar. They mention The Kabuki Warriors are going after the women’s tag titles. Bayley announces she is entering the women’s Royal Rumble match.
The Kabuki Warriors vs. Michin & Zelina Vega
Kairi Sane and Asuka, collectively known as The Kabuki Warriors, make their way out representing Damage CTRL for our next match of the evening. As they head to the ring, they are attacked from behind by Michin and Zelina Vega.
Michin and Vega beat them down and leave them laying. As they head into the ring, we shift gears and settle into a quick pre-match commercial break. When we return, we see the match officially underway.
Early on Vega does well, but when Asuka tags in she helps shift the offensive momentum in the favor of The Kabuki Warriors duo. In the end, a top rope elbow drop from Sane after an assist from Bayley picks up the win for the Damage CTRL duo of The Kabuki Warriors.
Winners: The Kabuki Warriors
Jimmy Uso Talks To Solo Sikoa Backstage
Backstage, we see Jimmy Uso talking to Solo Sikoa about how things don’t seem right tonight. He says Roman Reigns was talking funny. He says he thinks tonight could be a set up. He asks Solo Sikoa if he knew of anything would he tell him. We then head to another commercial break.
Randy Orton vs. Jimmy Uso
It’s main event time!
When we return, we see a Santos Escobar video package hyping his match against Bobby Lashley in the U.S. Title Contender Tournament semifinals next week. After that, Bobby Lashley and The Street Profits react backstage.
Dragon Lee vs. Butch for the NXT North American Championship, a Holiday Havoc 8-Woman Tag-Team Match, as well as Bobby Lashley vs. Santos Escobar and Kevin Owens vs. Carmelo Hayes in the semifinals of the U.S. Title Contender Tournament are announced for next week’s SmackDown.
Back inside the Resch Center, we hear the familiar sounds of Randy Orton’s theme music and out comes “The Apex Predator” for our main event of the evening. He settles inside the squared circle and his music dies down. Jimmy Uso’s theme hits and the crowd boos as The Bloodline member makes his way out.
Now the bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with our final match of the evening. Orton immediately takes it to Uso. He gets him in position for his draping DDT off the middle rope but Uso breaks free and re-groups at ringside as we head into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.
When we return, we see Orton bouncing Uso off the commentary desk. Highlights are shown of him doing the same during the break. The fans chant “one more time” and Orton obliges, but the commentary table still doesn’t break. Back in the ring, Orton has Uso finished off but then Roman Reigns comes out.
As Reigns makes his way out, LA Knight’s theme hits and he comes out from behind him. Orton hits an RKO on Uso in the ring and picks up the win.
Winner: Randy Orton
AJ Styles Makes His Return
After the match, Orton is staring down Reigns from the ring. Solo Sikoa and Reigns end up joining Orton and LA Knight in the ring. The Bloodline trio get the two down and beat them down.
The theme for AJ Styles hits out of nowhere and he appears on the ring apron. He connects with a phenomenal forearm and up comes Knight and Orton to help clear the ring of the rest of The Bloodline as the crowd goes wild.
As we see Styles, Knight and Orton staring down The Bloodline from the ring, out of nowhere Styles turns and takes out Knight. The crowd boos. Orton looks at Styles. Styles exits the ring and walks up to The Bloodline. He walks right past them and heads to the back.
The commentators run down what is in store for next week’s show one more time and then things wrap up on that note. We see Roman Reigns looking angrily into the camera as this week’s show goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
