Bengaluru, Dec 18: This week’s Smackdown was the final live TV edition of 2021 where Roman Reigns was the headliner as he fired Paul Heyman, ending the alliance of 476 days.

He was eventually taken out by The Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar which might be a way to keep him out of next week’s show.

In the Tribal Chief’s absence, two title matches will fill in, as per WWE’s announcement. Next Friday’s SmackDown on FOX will be a special Christmas Eve episode where one of the main events will witness SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defending her title against Toni Storm.

Flair and Storm have been feuding for a few weeks now where the latter is demanding a title match opportunity from the pro-female athlete of the WWE. Instead of granting that shot, Flair pie-faced Storm during the Thanksgiving edition of the show.

Then Flair got herself disqualified in last week’s Championship Contender’s match as she continued stomping away on Storm despite the referee’s denial. Last night, Smackdown opened with a tag team bout with Storm teaming up with Sasha Banks against the team of Flair and Shotzi.

Flair went for a follow-up moonsault when Storm got her knees up and bridged into a successful pin-fall attempt for the three-count. Since Storm was able to pin the champion, she was then granted a title match opportunity, next week instead of a bout that was originally rumoured for WWE Day 1 PPV.

A 12 Days of Christmas Gauntlet Match has also been confirmed for next week’s Christmas Eve SmackDown episode. The winner of the match will receive a title match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship held by Shinsuke Nakamura. WWE has also teased that the title match will go down on that same episode, possibly in the main event slot.

The 12 participants announced for the Gauntlet Match are Ricochet, Cesaro, Mansoor, Erik, Ivar, Drew Gulak, Sheamus, Sami Zayn, Jinder Mahal, Shanky, Angel, and Humberto. Nakamura and Rick Boogs will be on commentary for the elimination-style matchup.



Sami Zayn went to WWE Officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville in a backstage segment for a Universal Title match opportunity. It was then when the 12-man Gauntlet Match was announced for next week where if he wins, he’ll get an Intercontinental Championship match.

WWE Smackdown’s December 24 taped episode will be filmed from the All-State Arena in Chicago, Illinois. This will also be the final Friday night edition for 2021 as WWE is slated to air a Throwback episode on December 31.