WWE SmackDown Results, January 2nd, 2018, Live updates and commentary, SmackDown ends with huge WWE title match announced

The first SmackDown of 2018.

Results:
The Usos def. Gable and Jordan
Bludgeon Brothers vs Breezango - No result
Xavier Woods def. Aiden English
Sami Zayn def. AJ Styles

AJ is done with this, He takes the mic and asks for a handicap match against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Daniel Bryan books a handicap match for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble - AJ vs Kevin and Sami.

#SDLive pic.twitter.com/DmirPj3Tva
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) January 3, 2018

Zayn dodges a Phenomenal Forearm and the referee gets knocked out of the ring. Styles rolls up Zayn as Owens blocks the referee from getting back into the ring. Shane throws a strike at Owens as the referee ejects him. Bryan takes to the mic and asks Shane to leave too.

Owens distracts Styles in the corner and Zayn hits AJ with the Helluva kick to pick up the win. A big win for Sami Zayn thanks to the assist from KO.

Sami Zayn def. AJ Styles

AJ has a Calf Crusher locked in. Sami somehow makes his way to the bottom rope.

Smi responds with a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall of his own.

AJ followed it up with a pumphandle gutbuster. He now has Sami up on his shoulder and hits an Ushi Goroshi for a nearfall. Inexplicably, Byron Saxton called that a neckbreaker.

Zayn has AJ in headlock but the champion breaks free and drop Zayn with a clothesline. Both men are down as Owens tried to help Sami rally back to his feet.

AJ Styles vs Sami Zayn (w/Kevin Owens)

AJ Styles and Sami Zayn start off back and forth. Just a reminder, Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon are at ringside. Zayn takes control as we head into commercial.

It's main event time now as WWE Champion AJ Styles is making his way down to the ring.

Baron Corbin has officially announced that he will take part in the Royal Rumble match.

SHE'S BACK!!!!! #SDLive @BeckyLynchWWE pic.twitter.com/MiU8n3a4Jr
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) January 3, 2018

Ruby Riott cuts a promo about the Riott Squad but gets interrupted by Charlotte. Charlotte says she believes in the power of dreams before being joined by Naomi. Charlotte then announced the return of Becky Lynch and Charlotte, Becky and Naomi clear house.

.@RAYMONDxROWE and @sarahloganwwe knows a thing or two about hitting people with they knee's #SDLive pic.twitter.com/53wDJNN0Di
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) January 3, 2018

Tamina heads to the top rope but Liv Morgan dislodges her. Sarah Logan then hits her unique cartwheel knee drop for the win.

The Riott Squad def. Natalya, Carmella and Tamina

We're back from the break and Sarah Logan is the legal woman along with Carmella. Logan's superiority in terms of strength is clear as she has Carmella locked in a vice-like grip. Carmella breaks free and tags in Tamina,who takes Logan down with a clotheslines before hitting a Samoan Drop.

Natalya, Tamina and Carmella vs The Riott Squad

It seemed like the Welcoming Committee has reformed as Natalya, Tamina and Carmella team up to face Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan. All of these women will be in the upcoming women's Royal Rumble.

Liv Morgan can't match up to Natalya's technical ability and soon rolls out of the ring to regroup after an impressive opening from Natalya.

The finals of the US title tournament will be at the Royal Rumble.

English hits his signature for a nearfall. He then takes Woods to the top rope but Woods reverses an attempted piledriver to drop English on his back. Woods then hits the ropewalk elbow drop to win the match.

Xavier Woods def. Aiden English

Both men are down after Woods counters with a clothesline. English hits a sidekick to the gut before Woods counters with a modified Lumbar Check.

Aiden English vs Xavier Woods
Woods and English start off at a brisk pace as they avoid each other's offence. Woods hits English with a forearm before launching himself out of the and missing English. He recovered and caught English with a boot before a distraction from Rusev allowed English to send him face first into steel.

English vs Woods is about to start. Rusev and English are in the ring and Rusev takes the mic from English and sings English's introduction. That was gold.

Breezango vs Bludgeon Brothers

Harper and Rowan systematically destroy Breeze and Fandango as the match begins. The Ascension's muisoc hits and they come down to the ring. Harper and Rowan double-chokeslam Viktor and it looks like the segment is over,
They didn't even bother to finish the match.

Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are backstage with Renee Young. She asks KO if Shane being at ringside will affect the match. Owens says that the outcome won't be any different as he was confident that Sami would beat AJ. Sami adds that Daniel Bryan wasn't playing favourites, he was just a good GM.

Benjamin hits a spinebuster and signals that he wants to finish it. Gable and Benjamin got for another modified Doomsday device but Gabe gets caught with a superkick. The Usos then hit Benjamin with a double superkick before hitting a Frog Splash for the win.

The Usos def. Gable and Benjamin

Gable and Benjamin are still arguing with the referees as the match gets restarted. The Usos cheapshot them as the match officially begins. I won't lie, I'm not really into this match anymore after that terrible finish.

It looks like we have some shady booking as a referee comes out to show an instant replay which shows that Chad Gable wasn't the legal man, this match will be restarted. This is the worst kind of false finish WWE could have done. This doesn't make anyone look strong, not even the referee. What was the point of this?

Chad Gable is all over Jimmy Uso as we get back from the break. Both men make tags as Jey Uso sends Benjamin out of the ring. Jey follows it with an over the top rope dive to Bejamin. He then gets back in the ring and sends Gable out too before hitting him with a dive.
The Usos go for a double suicide dive but Benjamin pulls one of the Usos out and sends him crashing into the barricade.

Jimmy Uso goes for a suicide dive on Chad Gable but Benjamin stop him in his tracks with a knee. Benjamin and Gable then hit the Powerbomb/dive combo for the win.

It looks like we have new SmackDown Tag-Team Champions.

Gable and Benjamin def. The Usos

The Usos (C) vs Gable and Benjamin (for the SmackDown Tag-Team Championships)

The Usos cut a fiery promo on their way to the ring and welcome Gable and Benjamin to the Uso penitentiary before the match begins. Benjamin takes a cheapshot as soon as the bell rings. Gable then makes a tag a Benjamin slams Jimmy Uso off the top rope. Gable hits a moonsault immediately and covers Jimmy Uso but it gets broken up as we head to commercial.

We're back from break and we have a big title match up next as The Usos defend their SD Tag-Team Championships against Gable and Benjamin.

Bryan, Shane and KO are all gonna be ringside for Sami vs AJ. #SDLive pic.twitter.com/Xm18LXj6wV
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) January 3, 2018

Bryan announces that he might as well be at ringside himself. Looks like the first SmackDown main-event of 2018 will have a dusty finish.

Shane then says that some have accused him of having a vendetta against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Shane retorts by saying that it was Daniel Bryan who had a kinship with them. Shane then asked Bryan if he was turning the 'Yes Movement' into the 'Yep Movement'. Shane added that if Owens would be in Zayn's corner later in the night, Shane would be at ringside himself.

We get a pretty loud "Shane O' Mac" chant followed bya "Daniel Bryan" chant. Shane says that he had the best intentions on last week's episode when he came out to eject Sami Zayn from ringside. Shane then apologizes to AJ for accidentally costing him last week's match.

Shane followed Daniel Bryan out, before Bryan can get out a word, presumably to apologize to AJ Styles for what happened last week.

#SDLive pic.twitter.com/71HCYhLkMS
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubItal) January 3, 2018

Daniel Bryan comes out to a huge pop as expected.

Owens moves on to his match with Sami Zayn later in the night. Styles then invited Daniel Bryan out to see if Bryan would allow Kevin Owens to be in Sami Zayn's corner.

AJ says that a new year brought new beginnings and he was sure there were a lot of Superstars with whose new year's resolution was to win the Royal Rumble match. AJ added that his resolution was to remain WWE Champion till WrestleMania and walk out of Mania with the title still around his waist.

SmackDown Live kicks off with WWE Champion AJ Styles. Styles welcomes fans to the first SmackDown of 2018.

Hey guys, thanks for joining us for the first SmackDown of 2018. This is Pratyay from Sportskeeda and i'll be your host for the next couple of hours.

AJ Styles to battle Sami Zayn on first SmackDown LIVE of 2018

WWE Champion AJ Styles and Sami Zayn will square off in a non-title match on SmackDown LIVE tonight. The battle marks the first time these two Superstars will face each other one-on-one on the blue brand, though these two have been no strangers to one another in recent weeks.When the two match combatants last crossed paths, The Phenomenal One found his name in the loss column after a distraction by Zayn led Kevin Owensto a shocking victory on the final SmackDown LIVE of 2017. The result left Zayn & Owens celebrating on the entrance ramp while Styles engaged in a testy confrontation with SmackDown LIVE Commissioner Shane McMahon.

Can Styles settle the score with Zayn after this past week’s actions? Will Owens return the favor to Zayn in his battle with The Phenomenal One, or will Shane-O-Mac make sure the match occurs without incident?

Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin to challenge SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos today on SmackDown LIVE

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos will defend their titles against Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin tonight on SmackDown LIVE.Gable & Benjamin earned the opportunity by defeating The New Day and Rusev & Aiden English in a thrilling Triple Threat Match on the Dec. 26 edition of SmackDown LIVE. There’s no love lost between these two teams. Gable & Benjamin felt they have been owed a rematch for the titles since their last opportunity in November. On that night, the mat wrestling mavens were victorious by count-out, thus they did not leave with the titles. Benjamin & Gable also scored a pinfall victory over the champions.

Who will win the Eight-Superstar United States Championship Tournament?

After Dolph Ziggler seemingly "voluntarily relinquished" the United States Championship just two days after winning it in a thrilling Triple Threat Match at WWE Clash of Champions, the title’s future has come into focus. On the Dec. 26 edition of SmackDown LIVE, General Manager Daniel Bryan revealed that the next champion will be determined via an Eight-Superstar Tournament featuring some of Team Blue’s biggest names.

Last week in the first round of the tournament, Bobby Roode defeated former United States Champion Baron Corbin, and former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal overcame Tye Dillinger.This leaves two matches in the opening round: Former Hype Bros Zack Ryderand Mojo Rawley will go to battle, and The New Day’s Xavier Woods will go head-to-head against one of his tag team rivals (and recent Twitter adversaries), Aiden English.

Who will be the next Superstars to seek glory in two Royal Rumble Matches on Jan. 28?

Royal Rumble 2018 is on the horizon and will feature the traditional Men’s Royal Rumble Match as well as the ground-breaking, first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble Match. Last night on the red brand, Raw General Manager Kurt Anglemade it clear that the same rules that have always applied to the Men’s Royal Rumble will also apply to the Women’s free-for-all, as 30 female Superstars will compete for a championship opportunity at WrestleMania 34.

Former SmackDown Women’s Champions Naomi and Natalya, as well as Ruby Riott, have entered the Royal Rumble Match for the blue brand. After five Raw Superstars joined the undefeated Asuka from Raw, who will be the next to step up and make history on SmackDown LIVE? Meanwhile, after Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura declared for the Rumble last week, who will be the next SmackDown LIVE Superstar to seek a chance at WrestleMania glory?