The ongoing beef between Nia Jax and Naomi on WWE Smackdown over the women’s title will continue in the beginning phase of 2025 and will produce a championship match on the first blue brand edition of next year.
As revealed during the December 27 edition of WWE Smackdown that aired from the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax will defend her title against Naomi on the Friday, January 3 episode.
During last night’s show, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Bianca Belair & Naomi, and Bayley defeated WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax, Ms. Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton, and Candice LeRae in a six-woman tag team match. In the later portion of this match on WWE Smackdown, Stratton tried to cash in her MITB briefcase on a downed Jax but LeRae stopped her.
Before this, Naomi was the challenger for Jax’s most recently televised championship defense that went down on the November 15 episode of WWE SmackDown. Distractions from Stratton, and LeRae helped Jax in retaining the title on that night and as such, Naomi is getting the rematch for that reason.
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A non-title match has also been announced for the next episode of WWE SmackDown, in which the United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura will take on Andrade. Going by the current circumstances, Andrade is being positioned as the potential next title contender. Nakamura won the title from LA Knight at Survivor Series WarGames last month in late November.
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Another match on WWE Smackdown could also be in the pipeline. The Street Profits should be in line for a WWE Tag Team title match as they have defeated Legado Del Fantasma’s Angel and Berto on this week’s show. In a backstage segment, Apollo Crews told The Street Profits that it was DIY (current WWE Tag Team Champions Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) who attacked them weeks ago. Michael Cole further pushed on commentary that the Profits could be next in line for a title match opportunity but it’s yet to become official.
WWE Smackdown January 3 episode match card
WWE Smackdown January 3 episode, the first of 2025 takes place at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and the two matches announced for the show go as follows,
– WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax defends against Naomi
– Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Andrade
