WWE SmackDown Notes: Corey Graves Fills In For Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes Declares for Men’s Royal Rumble, Field for Undisputed WWE Title #1 Contender Four-Way and Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu Matches Set for 1/24 SNME Show, Leon Slater Surprise Appears, 1/23 Show Card

WWE
Jan 16, 2026

Corey Graves Fills In For Wade Barrett

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show at the OVO Arena Wembly in London, England featured RAW brand commentator Corey Graves filling in for Wade Barrett for SmackDown’s commentary team for the show.

Cody Rhodes Declares for Men’s Royal Rumble

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured Cody Rhodes officially declaring himself for this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match at Royal Rumble 2026, which takes place on January 31st at the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

During the show, Rhodes came out to the ring and talked about Drew McIntyre winning the Undisputed WWE Championship in a Three Stages of Hell match last week. Rhodes then talked about what the likes of Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and Cody Rhodes have in common…they all won back-to-back Royal Rumble matches. Rhodes continued stating that only one man has pulled off a three-peat and how he loves a good gamble. After some more words, Rhodes officially declared himself for this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match.

Rhodes then turned his attention towards Jacob Fatu and after some words, he stated that knows he’s a young veteran…but as a young veteran he should know what a receipt is, and he’s got one for Fatu.

Randy Orton, Trick Williams, Damian Priest, & Sami Zayn Advances to Undisputed WWE Title #1 Contender Fatal Four-way Match at Jan. 24th SNME Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured four Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender tournament matches.

The first match was Randy Orton defeating The Miz.

The second match was Trick Williams defeating Matt Cardona.

The third match was Damian Priest defeating Solo Sikoa.

The fourth match was Sami Zayn defeating Ilja Dragunov.

As a result of their victories, Orton, Williams, Priest, and Zayn advances to the #1 Contender Fatal Four-way match for the Undisputed WWE Championship at WWE’s next Saturday Night’s Main Event show on January 24th.

Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu Announced for Jan. 24th WWE SNME Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured one new match announced for the card of WWE’s next Saturday Night’s Main Event show on January 24th at the Centre Bell in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

This new match announced was a singles match of Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu.

This new match was initially setup over last week’s show following Fatu’s surprise return and him accidentally costing Rhodes the Undisputed WWE Championship in a Three Stages of Hell match against Drew McInryre. During tonight’s show, Rhodes came out to the ring and after declaring for the Men’s Royal Rumble, he called out Fatu stating that he has receipt coming his way for what he did last week.

In a follow-up segment, Fatu came out to the ring to interrupt Kit Wilson’s promo and quickly laid him out. Fatu then grabbed a microphone and demanded for Rhodes to come out, which he did and was quickly followed by WWE security and SmackDown GM Nick Aldis. It was announced that Rhodes vs. Fatu was made official for next week’s SNME show.

Current card for January 24th WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event show:

  • Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender Four-way match – Randy Orton vs. Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest vs. Sami Zayn
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship – Judgement Day (Liv Morgan & Roxanne Perez) vs. Rhea Ripley & IYO SKY (c)
  • Cody Rhodes vs. Jacob Fatu

Leon Slater Makes Surprise Appearance

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured current TNA X-Division Champion Leon Slater making a surprise appearance.

During the show, Carmelo Hayes came out to the ring for his WWE United States Championship Open Challenge match. This led to Slater’s music playing and him coming out to the ring answering the challenge.

This was Slater’s first appearance in WWE since this past December’s WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event show.

Current Card for Next Week’s Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show also featured four new matches announced for the card of next week’s show on January 23rd at the Centre Bell in Montreal, Quebec Canada.

Current card for January 23rd WWE SmackDown show:

  • WWE Tag Team Championship – Two members of The MFTs (Talla Tonga, JC Mateo, Tama Tonga, & Tonga Loa) vs. Wyatt Sicks (Joe Gacy & Dexter Lumis) (c)
  • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Triple Threat match – Giulia & Kiana James vs. Alexa Bliss & Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax & Lash Legend
  • Trick Williams vs. Damian Priest
  • Johnny Gargano vs. Nathan Frazer
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