WWE Friday Night Smackdown preview and schedule: December 24, 2021

A Christmas Special Gauntlet has been made official for this night with an Intercontinental Championship opportunity looming around. Also, the Smackdown Women’s Championship will be defended on the show that has already been taped from the All-State Arena in Chicago, Rosemont, Illinois.

A shocking set of events unfolded on last week’s Smackdown where the Universal Champion Roman Reigns returned to kick out his Special Council Paul Heyman from The Island of Relevancy with a Superman Punch. The accusation was simple and that’s Heyman’s mystery alliance with his former client Brock Lesnar.

The Tribal Chief also intended to make further damages to Heyman with a pair of steel chairs via Con-Chair-To but Lesnar emerged as the saviour. Easily tearing through The Usos with earth-shattering F-5s on the floor, The Beast downed Reigns with a pair of F-5s amid huge cheers from the crowd.

That being said, it was proved that Heyman was legit about protecting Reigns from the ‘alpha male of our species.’ Now that the shield is gone, the big question is whether the champion will be more vulnerable to The Beast as the Day 1 title rematch approaches closer.

NEXT WEEK on #SmackDown!#WomensTitle @MsCharlotteWWE #ToniStorm pic.twitter.com/856pSLhkKo

— WWE (@WWE) December 18, 2021

Apparently, a Storm is looming upon the title reign of Charlotte Flair. After weeks of denials, The Queen will finally have to give away a title match to the Australian superstar who’s been trying to prove her worth on the mainstay picture.

Flair and Storm have been involved in a feud for a few weeks now. Two weeks ago, Flair got herself disqualified in a Championship Contender’s match.

Then, Storm and Sasha Banks defeated Flair and Shotzi in tag team action with Storm pinning Flair with a roll-up. As a result, Storm has earned her opportunity to the Smackdown Women’s Championship on the occasion of Christmas.

A “12 Days of Christmas” 12-Man Gauntlet Match for an #ICTitle opportunity goes down NEXT WEEK on a Christmas Eve edition of #SmackDown! https://t.co/d7us4UDvGs pic.twitter.com/OV9QtaYMlD

— WWE (@WWE) December 18, 2021

The Holiday festivities and chaos will be showcased as WWE will also offer a special “12 Days of Christmas” 12-Man Gauntlet Match with the winner receiving an Intercontinental Championship Match in the near future.

The 12 participants for the Gauntlet Match have been announced and they are Ricochet, Cesaro, Mansoor, Erik, Ivar, Drew Gulak, Sheamus, Sami Zayn, Jinder Mahal, Shanky, Angel, and Humberto. Nakamura and Rick Boogs are likely to be present on the commentary during the bout.

While nothing has been confirmed, the title match is expected to go down on the same night or at the WWE Day 1 pay-per-view event on January 1. Tune in to a special Christmas Eve edition of SmackDown on FOX to find out who wins the right to challenge The Artist for the Intercontinental Title.