With Christmas quickly approaching, WWE has opted to pre-record the December 22nd episode of “WWE SmackDown,” giving the company’s superstars more time to spend with their loved ones this holiday season. The December 15 edition of “SmackDown” kicked off from the Resch Center in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Once off the air, WWE filmed this week’s episode as well, which is scheduled to air in the blue brand’s regular timeslot (8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CST) on FOX on Friday.
As previously announced by WWE, Friday’s episode of “SmackDown” will feature a match for the WWE NXT North American Championship between Butch and defending champion Dragon Lee, who recently defeated Dominik Mysterio to capture the title. The WWE Universe will also see two United States Championship semifinals this week, with Kevin Owens facing NXT’s Carmelo Hayes, and former LWO’s Bobby Lashley facing Santos Escobar. In the Christmas spirit, Damage CTRL (Bayley, IYO SKY, Kairi Sane, and Asuka) will compete with Bianca Belair, Shotzi, Michin, and Zelina Vega in an eight-woman Holiday Havoc tag team match. Here’s a look at spoilers for the December 22 episode of SmackDown, courtesy of NoDQ.
**Spoilers below**
* United States Championship: Santos Escobar defeated Bobby Lashley thanks to interference from Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo.
* NXT North American Championship: Dragon Lee (c) defeated Butch.
* AJ Styles, Randy Orton and L.A. Knight face off in a promo clip, with each claiming that they want to be the next challenger to Roman Reigns’ undisputed WWE Universal Championship. “SmackDown” General Manager Nick Aldis later announced that they would compete in a three-way match on the “New Year’s Revolution” edition of SmackDown, with the winner then facing Reigns for the title at the 2024 Royal Rumble event.
* Holiday Havoc: Bianca Belair, Zelina Vega, Mishin, and Shotzi defeated Damage CTRL (Bayley, Asuka, Kairi Sane and Io Sky). Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre return to attack Sane at some point during the clip.
* United States Championship: Kevin Owens defeated Carmelo Hayes.
* AJ Styles defeated Solo Sequa by disqualification after Roman Reigns attacked “The Phenomenal One.” A brawl involving The Bloodline, Styles, Knight, and Orton ensued.
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