This past Friday’s SmackDown took place at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. The show kicked off with the final match of the United States Championship tournament. Kevin Owens defeated Santos Escobar to become the No. 1 contender for Logan Paul’s US Title. After the match, Owens knocked out The Maverick.
Bobby Lashley and Street Profits addressed the fans. Lashley declared himself for the Royal Rumble match. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins said that they are coming for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles. However, Lashley and Street Profits were attacked by Karrion Kross and The Authors of Pain.
Iyo Sky defeated Michin to retain the WWE Women’s Championship.
Butch and Tyler Bate defeated Pretty Deadly in a Tag Team match.
In the main event, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, and LA Knight faced each other in a Triple Threat match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title opportunity. However, The Bloodline interfered in the match and attacked all three of them. Nick Aldis then told Paul Heyman that Roman Reigns would have to defend the title against Orton, Styles, and Knight in a Fatal 4-Way match at Royal Rumble.
According to Nielsen via SpoilerTV, the January 5th episode of WWE SmackDown drew 2.465 million viewers on FOX and a 0.67 rating in the 18-49 demographic.
WWE SmackDown viewership & ratings for the past few weeks
| Episode of WWE SmackDown | Viewership | 18-49 demographic |
| January 5 | 2.465 million | 0.67 |
| December 29 | 1.355 million | 0.28 |
| December 22 | 2.108 million | 0.55 |
| December 15 | 2.154 million | 0.51 |
| December 8 | 2.384 million | 0.63 |
| December 1 | 2.044 million | 0.59 |
| November 24 on FS1 | 789,000 | 0.24 |