8 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (16 Jan - Results & Review)

6. Short But Sweet

There was a time when Randy Orton vs. The Miz would've been a plausible PLE main event. Those days are very much over, but the showdown played a neat role in helping SmackDown chug along over in the UK on Friday night. It was the first qualifying match up for the number one contenders Fatal-4-Way at SNME, and it saw Orton deal with Miz handily.

The match may have been on the shorter side at less than 5 minutes, but both veterans had a story arc to work with. Miz ambushed Randy from behind to hit a Skull Crushing Finale before the match even started, so Orton had to fight from underneath to hit an RKO for the crowd-popping win. This made sense.

As always, Miz can bounce back from this sort of defeat. The bout was solid as a rock. Not The Rock, but he’s never around so scratch that! Sorry, couldn't resist that dig. Some still haven't forgiven Dwayne for facilitating John Cena's heel turn at Elimination Chamber 2025 then vanishing from screens so the aftermath felt hollow and directionless. That was one of last year's worst creative fallouts for sure.

Back to Randy and Miz.

Fans in London revelled in the chance to see this combo clash, but nobody was under any illusions about who the winner would be. After all, Orton had already approached new WWE Champ Drew McIntyre and pointed out that he defeated the Scot for that title many moons ago back in the black and white telly days of 2020.