OK, guys. There's no time to beat around the bush with the first "WWE SmackDown" of 2025 because it's officially and finally...

TIFFY TIME!

I'm hyped. These are the moments that remind us why we love pro wrestling.

It had to be tonight — it just had to be — and it was. Tiffany Stratton's long-awaited cash-in was delivered beautifully. Stratton's big moment was packaged cleverly despite the lack of my Jade Cargill return prediction last week, which I still think could've been brilliant.

We saw teases earlier in the night when Nia Jax asked Candice LeRae where Stratton was during a backstage discussion. The setup was nice before Jax's eventual title defense against one-half of the current Women's Tag Team champions, Naomi, which was a bit of a slow burn that picked up to deliver some dramatic spots and near falls that had the crowd invested. Naomi looked strong, which was important for her in a spotlighted singles outing. But once "Tiffy Time" arrived, I was sold a ticket.

Stratton's music hit to set the scene and garner a loud pop before she tossed the outside referee to the side. LeRae distracted the other and "SMACK!" went the briefcase into Naomi's dome, costing her the match as Jax hit the An-Nia-lator for the 1-2-3 immediately after.

It felt like a total Vince McMahon mini-swerve and I sighed as I watched in shame.

"Are we really going to extend this?" I thought as the trio celebrated in the ring.

Then it happened.

Jax's ego led her to attack Naomi's teammate Bianca Belair in the aftermath. Stratton pounced. Everyone played their part and a KOD-Prettiest Moonsault Ever combination scored the win for Stratton in a way-too-early frontrunner for 2025's best WWE moment.

Yeah, I said it!

New year changes for all

Clock management was the theme of the night, wasn't it?

"SmackDown" is three hours now and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Three hours is long for a weekly wrestling show and that's been a reccurring complaint with "Raw" since it first went that long back in the day. It's even more to ask for on a Friday night.

I didn't really feel it until the third hour came. WWE made it all about The Bloodline story and the trios main event between The Bloodline and OG Bloodline had too much time because of this. It was pretty slow at certain points, but in the end, Solo Sikoa had to stand tall before his Tribal Combat match with Roman Reigns on Monday.

The saga continues

A longer show obviously provides more time to deliver some quality. Paul Heyman got a chance to add his wrinkles before the main event, cutting a vintage promo in the ring before cowering to Sikoa.

Sikoa demanded that Heyman put the Ula Fala on him after he beats Reigns on Monday's Netflix debut, which will give him ownership of Heyman, apparently.

Yeah. It sounds pretty weird when you sit and think about it.

Heyman serves his purpose and is always a great listen, though, so the more we get of him on WWE TV the better. The same goes for Jacob Fatu and his absurd intros during a Bloodline walkout. This guy is the best kind of crazy and something bigger for him has to be on the way. That Braun Strowman tease from last week definitely needs a revisit and I thought we might get it here, but the big man was nowhere to be seen.

The same couldn't be said for a creepily slow-walking, shirtless Drew McIntyre, who tried to distract Jey Uso (sort of). They have a match on Monday, but I don't know what this was. Uso took him out with a dive and that was it. Uso went on to nearly win the match for his team but lost in a confusing finish, pinning the wrong man. That was actually a fun way to end the match, but McIntyre was literally just there to be there and it's getting funnier the more I reflect on it.

It was what it was. Uso having a Spear as his finisher still feels so incredibly off to me. More finisher complaints are on the way, folks. Don't worry.

🙌 Match of the Night

DIY and Motor City Machine Guns (MCMG) are money. Put them together in a best of 100 series and I'll be glued to all of it.

Let me praise heel Johnny Gargano quickly because he's just the most annoying dude. He hilariously reacted to MCMG's music when the match started and was so bratty interacting with Pretty Deadly earlier in the night.

The teams put on an excellent match for DIY's tag titles. Everything about this match displayed the beauty of tag team action — until an atrocious, unforgivable and forgettable ending.

I'm so annoyed by this. I had a feeling shenanigans were coming of some variety, and that should've been from the Street Profits, who were a key part of the tag team antics last week and won over Los Garzas. Instead, Pretty Deadly and Los Garzas came out when MCMG had the match won with a submission each on Tommaso Ciampa and Gargano.

Do you know what happened? The other two teams brawled around the ring and then got in the ring and scuffled with each other into MCMG and DIY to cause a DQ. This was the lamest garbage ever, man.

Also, though: an incredible way to ruin a great match! Awesome job, Triple H. I have no remorse for this one. There's no interest in the other teams being involved. MCMG is getting done dirty after such an epic start.

👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑

Thankfully, Shinsuke Nakamura and Andrade gave us a good match early in the night that got overshadowed by everything else. It was our Uncrowned Gem.

Hearing Michael Cole reference other companies like Noah and NJPW on commentary was so bizarre. It's refreshing to have the outside world acknowledged. Who would've thought?

Some of the near falls in this match were insane. Andrade almost won with a spinning back elbow and double moonsault. There wasn't a wrong direction with the outcome. Andrade winning would have felt best with a dirty finish because it was a non-title match, but that's somewhat of a boring troupe.

We got some callbacks to their last match and ultimately Nakamura got a clean win after his exposed turnbuckle tactics last time.

What pushed this scene over was the appearance of a recently missed LA Knight. YEAH.

"The Megastar" returned to a big pop as usual and laid the wood to the United States Champion. There's a new edge to Knight after his title loss and he was fired up for a quick promo to call out Nakamura and hit a classic barrage of YEAHS on the mic. The title rematch is set for next Friday. Let's party.

Same old, same old

Cody Rhodes opened this show and delivered another good promo. We know what we get whenever we see the Undisputed WWE Champion, and that's not bad. In this case, however, there's just nothing new they can do until the Kevin Owens Ladder Match. I hope I'm wrong.

To change things up, Drew McIntyre surprisingly interrupted. The whole transfer window is just silly but I guess it's better than not having a brand split at all.

McIntyre hugged Rhodes before he got on the mic, seemingly promising to be cordial — which he was. McIntyre's truth-teller gimmick is so brilliant and his rationale for his latest actions is perfectly reasonable, even if it's essentially him holding a grudge toward The OG Bloodline.

Rhodes instead became hostile, doubting McIntyre's intentions and inviting a title match. This all set up McIntyre giving Owens an opening to ambush. So, again, the same thing we keep getting out of Owens. Cool.

McIntyre being a part of this was so random despite any history. In both of his appearances, he was simply there to be there. Zero value was added in any way.

👍 UP AND UP 👍

Nick Aldis's "My eyes are connected to my brain" line to Pretty Deadly was hilarious. I love this guy and his screen time tonight was utilized to perfection.

🤷 HE SAID WHAT?!?! 🤷

Corey Graves tossed out a WILD Gypsy-Rose Blanchard reference during the main event. If you know, you know. This man is unhinged.

👎 DOWN AND OUT 👎

Dakota Kai wasn't on "SmackDown," but I need to take this moment to highlight that she and Michin's finishers are beyond stupid. I have more of a problem with Kai's, which is literally a GTS but to the bottom of her foot. Michin has the same move without the lift.

This ain't it, ladies. I'm sorry. They're bad. Real bad.

👑 Stratton's win is a much-needed breath of fresh air for her new title and the reign will be fun. So most of this Crown Score is really just for that match and moment: 8/10.