Friday Night SmackDown aired this week from the site of tomorrow’s Royal Rumble premium live event, the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, only less than 24 hours away from the big show.
Cathy Kelley was backstage with the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley. With the two champions having become closer friends over the past year, Kelley asks them if they’ve thought about what will happen if they’re the last two women in the Royal Rumble match. Rhea says that her and IYO understand that when it comes to the Royal Rumble, it’s every woman for herself, but they have overcome a lot, so after the Rumble, they’re still going to be friends. IYO adds that they wrestled at WrestleMania 41 last year, and still became friends, so they can handle the Rumble.
Kiana James and Giulia walk in. Kiana says their story is cute, but will ultimately be their undoing. Giulia and SKY exchange words in Japanese, and Kiana says that their friendship isn’t in danger because it’s not going to come down to the two of them in the Rumble; it might be a different story, though, when they take the tag titles, Giulia goes on to WrestleMania, and becomes a triple champion. Rhea fires back, telling Kiana that they’re getting a little ahead of themselves about winning the tag titles. Nia Jax and Lash Legend have now showed up, and Nia scoffs at the idea of any of the four women winning the Rumble, since her and Lash are entering, so none of them stand a chance. Meanwhile, The Boujee Bully says that whoever walks out as tag team champions that they are going after them. The women begin to argue with one another as officials get in between them to prevent a brawl.
The team of Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss made their way out to discuss the Women’s Royal Rumble. Flair takes the mic once they enter the ring, and she has to be honest, the women are at each other’s throats, but the truth is, she’s winning the Rumble, she’s going to WrestleMania, and there’s no friend she’d rather have her back while she does it than her best friend, “Lexi”. As the crowd began to cheer, Bliss said that was funny because she actually had the same plan, which Flair believes is a sign that Bliss is supportive of her idea: to dedicate her win to Bliss.
What Bliss actually wanted to say was that she was planning on winning the Royal Rumble and Charlotte is confused: how is her friend winning when she’s winning? The Queen cites her winning the women’s Royal Rumble twice before (in 2020 and 2025), so the odds are in her favor. Bliss says that she made history too by having the first women’s match for WWE in the Middle East (back in late 2017 against Sasha Banks) and she plans on being the first woman to win the Royal Rumble here in Riyadh.
Flair thinks that’s awesome, but doesn’t think that Bliss is listening: she’s been a great tag team partner and best friend, but tomorrow, it’s every woman for herself. Did Bliss think Flair was going to help her win? Bliss says that she doesn’t need Charlotte’s help to win and Charlotte doesn’t need Alexa’s help either, and she’s going to hold her hand when she tells her this: not everything is about her. Flair says “Ouch” and questions Bliss, wondering that if she turns her back, will Bliss toss both their friendship, and her, over the top rope?
Bliss wonders if Flair will toss her, but they are interrupted by the trio of Divas that make up part of The Judgment Day: Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Roxanne Perez. With a microphone in hand, Morgan pretends to gush and laughs over how cute it is that Bliss and Flair are fighting. She and her crew can’t relate, but to be real, while Charlotte and Alexa are busy stabbing each other in the back, tomorrow night, one of the three of them will win the Royal Rumble match.
Bliss stops Morgan from talking and says that she hates to break it to her, but having Roxanne and Raquel help her win isn’t really a plan, and Flair adds that if they think her and Bliss aren’t friends, why don’t they just come down to the ring and find out. The trio then huddles briefly and decide to walk down the ramp, but then go “sike, yeah right” and laugh in their faces. Calling them “losers”, Morgan states that they have better things to do, especially with the Royal Rumble being tomorrow.
SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis then makes his way out and tells them, “not so fast…”. Aldis says that you can tell the Royal Rumble is on deck because that’s what everybody wants to do here tonight. He knows that while The Judgment Day are not members of the SmackDown roster, but he has a rule, and that is if you step on the stage, you step in the ring. Any combination of the Liv, Raquel, and Roxanne could face Charlotte and Alexa, and a referee is brought out, because a tag team match will happen right now, angering the trio.
The resulting tag team match started with Liv and Roxanne being the representing members of The Judgment Day. Things began with Flair and Perez, but Morgan soon cheap shotted Flair and the two attempted to double team her unsuccessfully. Bliss was then tagged in as Perez and Morgan worked together to outpace her, although Bliss fought back throughout as she struggled to tag in Flair, who tried several times to intervene and help her out. Eventually, a stumbling Bliss was able to reach Flair, who fought off both opponents with a crossbody, chops, and a moonsault, although the two still did their best to undermine her. Ultimately, Raquel Rodriguez got up on the ring apron, allowing Perez to strike The Queen’s lower leg, but Rodriguez was attacked by Women’s World Champion, Stephanie Vaquer, distracting Roxanne Perez into a Sister Abigail for Charlotte and Alexa to win the match.
Cathy Kelley returned, this time speaking with Jordynne Grace. Mentioning that she’s had quite a few run-ins with the WWE Women’s Champion, Jade Cargill since arriving to SmackDown at the start of January, but tomorrow at the Royal Rumble, she has the opportunity to secure a championship match against Cargill at WrestleMania. Wondering how she’s feeling heading into such a big night, Grace says that everyone knows that the Royal Rumble match can change your life and you never know who’s going to walk out there, but she always bets on herself. When she wins the Rumble and WrestleMania, she’s going to give Jade a reality check. She doesn’t get to say anything past that as Cargill pushes her into a box. Cargill says that she’s not winning the Royal Rumble and she’s damn sure not beating her at WrestleMania because she is that bitch, but Grace fights back with a series of punches, with referees having to break them up in the process.
Before Johnny Gargano’s match against Axiom, Gargano and his wife Candice LeRae were pulled aside by Nick Aldis, who informed LeRae that she was barred from ringside. While The Poison Pixie and her husband are not happy to hear this news, Aldis believes he is protecting Gargano from her as she has stolen Axiom’s blue mask in recent weeks; Axiom will get to keep the mask if he wins the resulting match, which he ultimately won after putting the blue mask on again.
The 2026 Royal Rumble airs tomorrow on Saturday, January 31st from the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (11 a.m. for viewers in the Pacific Time Zone) on ESPN+ in the United States and Netflix in other countries.
It will feature the women’s Royal Rumble match. As has been tradition among male Superstars since 1988 and female Superstars since 2018, 30 women will battle it out in 1 ring, and the winner of the match will go on to WrestleMania 42 in April to face either the Women’s World Champion, Stephanie Vaquer of Monday Night Raw, or Women’s Champion, Jade Cargill of Friday Night SmackDown. 17 Superstars have declared that they will compete so far, featuring the likes of:
- IYO SKY
- Rhea Ripley
- Roxanne Perez
- Liv Morgan
- Raquel Rodriguez
- Bayley
- Lyra Valkyria
- Asuka
- Chelsea Green
- Jordynne Grace
- Charlotte Flair
- Alexa Bliss
- Nia Jax
- Lash Legend
- Giulia
- Maxxine Dupri
- Becky Lynch
There are still 13 spots left remaining. Who will fill them is still a mystery, but every Rumble match is full of surprises.
Friday Night SmackDown airs next week from inside the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. We can expect all of the fallout from the Royal Rumble and the start of the Road to WrestleMania for the women of Team Blue.
As always, make sure to share your thoughts on this week’s edition of SmackDown, plus your women’s Royal Rumble predictions, in the comments below.