With the 2024 Royal Rumble now in the books, WWE focuses on building up the biggest matches for WrestleMania XL on April 6-7 in Philadelphia in this week’s SmackDown card. Apart from Bayley’s most hyped-up WrestleMania opponent pickup, Kevin Owens’ unforeseen score settlement with Austin Theory, and a massive Logan Paul promo, WWE graced the night with a sharp NXT flair.

In case you missed out even a bit on this stacked-down blue brand show, here are all the major highlights and outcomes from the BJCC Arena in Birmingham, Alabama. Buckle up, peeps.

After the new announcer pair, Corey Graves and Wade Barrett, officially welcomed us to the show, WWE United States Championship Logan Paul loomed large in the ring. Entering to large boos, Paul made his complaints against more than one star in the roster clear. In a boastful promo, he dished out jabs at Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins, and CM Punk. Paul made fun of KO for losing his game as he made Logan bleed and nearly knocked him out in the past.  He also made use of his sharp tongue to downplay the tricep and knee injuries of Seth Rollins and CM Punk. The fans shouted “WHAT” as he continued to brag about being one the toughest men on the roster.

Kevin Owens interrupted and had a war of words with Paul before initiating his business with Austin Theory. The crowd had a huge pop for KO, cementing his babyface status even more.

As Owens vs Theory was in play, fans were being served with a lot of banger moves and twists in the process. After a lot of back and forth, Owens finally managed to get the upper hand over Theory outsmarting the interference of Paul and Grayson Waller with the help of his brass knuckles. A cheap and predictive outcome for sure but the quality of the match was satisfactory.

Meanwhile, Naomi is back in the red brand. After her high-flying WWE return at Royal Rumble last week, she made her footing strong in the business coming out with a SmackDown contract in hand. The NXT element of the showdown was featured with former Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton flaunting her SmackDown contract the next.

It sounded like Logan Paul will be there in the squared circle a bit more often this year as he asked the SmackDown GM for it, reminding everyone that he’s a full-timer now. At the same time, Bianca Belair was seen nagging Aldis for a title shot and ended up receiving quite rude treatment from Paul.

In a quick backstage segment, Santos Escobar warmly welcomed Elektra Lopez back. The cohesive duo agreed to honor their families’ legacies, to destroy Rey Mysterio’s LWO.

A jam-packed tag team fight featuring Pete Dunne & Tyler Bate, LWO – Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde (w/Zelina Vega), Pretty Deadly – Kit Wilson & Elton Prince, and Angel & Humberto (w/Elektra Lopez) was on the platter next.

The match started with the intention of making the winning team face the winners of a Raw fatal four-way match and finally hand the winners of that match a title shot at Elimination Chamber. With all eight guys putting on an arduous fight to get over each other, the match showed pure drama and extreme physicality.

At the end of a messy struggle, Dunne & Bate got their deserved win, expanding their potential as a recent regular tag team in the house. Also, LWO served us with some jaw-dropping high spots.

Damage CTRL’s Iyo Sky, Asuka & Kairi Sane were seen talking through Bayley, hyping up the chance of an obvious breakup.

After WWE featured a video featuring a past interaction between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins, The American Nightmare was seen on his bus with his dog Pharoah thinking about his promo later in the show.

The Damage CTRL, without Dakota Kai, rushed to the ring. Bayley initiated her promo by talking highly about her stable Damage CTRL but ended up receiving a cold shoulder from her mates. When she asked about the ignorance, Sky turned her back on her, and Asuka and Sane attacked Bayley from behind.

After an inter-stable scuffle, Bayley reached the saturation point of her patience and challenged Iyo Sky for a WrestleMania match, marking her official departure from Dmage CTRL.

Bobby Lashley & The Street Profits locked horns with The Final Testament – Karrion Kross, AOP – Akam & Rezar (w/Paul Ellering & Scarlett) but it didn’t end up turning into a proper match. It was merely a hype-up to keep the tension intact in the group, maybe for the build-up of a future match.

Another short segment showed that Bron Breakker and Jade Cargill are more than ready for their main roster call-up.

Tiffany Stratton headed to her blue brand debut match against Michin and came out victorious. After brawling for eight minutes, Stratton performed a triple jump moonsault to pick up the win.

The cynosure of the night, the electrifying promo battle between Rhodes and Reigns was next on the line. After Reigns’ cocky solo promo, The American Nightmare chimed in. He twisted the finish of his story saying he’s not going to do it at WrestleMania.

The Rock’s music hit and his staredown with The Tribal Chief gave off hope for another highly sought-after dream main event of WrestleMania.

This is all for this week’s star-studded Smackdown.