WWE SmackDown Notes: The Miz & Damien Priest Moved to SD, A-Town Down Under Moved to RAW, Charlotte Flair Return Set for Royal Rumble 2025, Flair, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, & More Declare for Women’s Rumble, Shinsuke Nakamura Declares for Men’s Rumble

The Miz Moved Over to SmackDown Brand on Friday’s WWE SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas featured RAW brand talent The Miz making a surprise appearance.

During the show, The Miz was seen in SmackDown GM Nick Aldis’ office for a chat. The Miz asked Aldis is he had asked him to be here to do a Miz TV show. Aldis responded telling Miz that he’s on SmackDown now since he was transferred over. The Miz responded back asking him if he is joking and stated in a worrying tone that The Wyatts are SmackDown. The Miz then stated that this must have been Karrion Kross’ doing. Aldis then told Miz that he might need to go make some new friends and fast. This led to Miz giving an upset reaction and walked away.

Miz’s move to SmackDown was part of WWE’s on-going transfer window period for their RAW, SmackDown, & NXT brands.


Damian Priest Moved Over to SmackDown Brand on Friday’s WWE SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured RAW brand talent Damian Priest making a surprise appearance.

During the show, Carmelo Hayes was seen walking into SmackDown GM Nick Aldis’ office. Hayes told Aldis that he was upset at Jimmy Uso getting a match made against Kevin Owens tonight since he was supposed to face Uso tonight. Aldis responded stating that his match with Uso will be taking place next week and he found a replacement for him and someone who is the newest acquisition for the SmackDown brand. Aldis asked if he is still interested, which Hayes responded he was.

In a follow-up segment, Hayes and Aldis were seen backstage in Aldis’ office waiting for this mystery “new acquisition” person, who was revealed to be Priest.


Charlotte Flair WWE Return Announced for Royal Rumble 2025

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured the announcement of Charlotte Flair making her official return at next week’s Royal Rumble 2025 event.

During the show, a new video aired featuring Flair talking about her upcoming return to WWE and announced that she will be making her official return in the Women’s Royal Rumble match at next weekend’s Royal Rumble event. Flair stated that she is going to win it again.


Naomi, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, & Raquel Rodriguez Declare for Women’s Royal Rumble

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured Naomi, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, and Raquel Rodriguez all officially being declared for this year’s Women’s Royal Rumble match, which takes place at next weekend’s WWE Royal Rumble 2025 event.

All of them officially declared themselves or were declared by someone else during a lengthy in-ring promo segment that also featured Nia Jax who declared herself for a second time for some odd reason, WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton, and WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley.

Current field for Women’s Royal Rumble match at 2025 WWE Royal Rumble:

  • Nia Jax
  • Bayley
  • Charlotte Flair
  • Naomi
  • Bianca Belair
  • Liv Morgan

A-Town Down Under Moved Over to RAW Brand on Friday’s WWE SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured A-Town Down Under’s Austin Theory & Grayson Waller being officially moved over to the RAW brand.

During the show, The Miz was seen backstage talking to A-Town Down Under and tried to recruit them to be his pals by dangling a movie acting offer, which A-Town Down Under were happy to accept. This led to SmackDown GM Nick Aldis showing up to interrupt and told A-Town Down Under to pack their bags since they are officially moving to the RAW brand. A-Town Down Under were extra happy and celebrated over the news leaving The Miz once again all alone to deal with his Wyatts Sicks problem.


Shinsuke Namakura Declares Himself for Men’s Royal Rumble Match

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured Shinsuke Nakamura officially declaring himself for this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match, which takes place at WWE’s Royal Rumble 2025 on February 1st at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

During the show a video aired featuring Nakamura giving a promo and officially announcing that he will be competing in the Men’s Royal Rumble match and claimed he will win it again.

Current field for Men’s Royal Rumble match at 2025 WWE Royal Rumble:

  • LA Knight
  • John Cena
  • CM Punk
  • Jey Uso
  • Roman Reigns
  • Seth Rollins
  • Drew McIntyre
  • Rey Mysterio
  • Sami Zayn
  • Shinsuke Nakamura