Karrion Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux returned to on and took out Drew McIntyre while issuing a warning to Roman Reigns.
The former NXT Champion and his real life wife wereback in November 2021, but now Triple H has re-signed a duo he had high hopes for during NXT’s black and gold era.
They made an emphatic statement with their shock comeback on Friday night, throwing a major spanner in the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship scene.
Roman Reigns and The Bloodline – sans Paul Heyman – came out at the end of the night following plenty of drama with Sami Zayn backstage throughout the evening.
It was largely focused on Zayn trying to get some time with the Tribal Chief only to be repeatedly blown off, and this could be the catalyst to the Conspiracy Theorist turning on the group and enlisting Kevin Owens to help him take the Unified Tag Team Titles.
Back to the main event segment, the Head of the Table insisted he respects Brock Lesnar after SummerSlam but still hates him – only for McIntyre to interrupt, suggesting he can’t wait for Clash At The Castle in Cardiff.
However, Kross’ music hits and he and Scarlett came out with their black and white effect, laying out the Scottish Warrior from behind before she placed an hourglass in the ring as a message to Roman.
This was a world away from , and having his wife back as part of his act is a masterstroke from Triple H.
Liv Morgan gets booed before Shayna Baszler wins Gauntlet Match, Ricochet beats Happy Corbin and more
SmackDown kicked off with commentator Pat McAfeeover Happy Corbin, and backstage Ricochet is seen laughing about the way the match went down.
This led to our first bout of the night – an absolute banger which saw Ricochet eventually beat Corbin himself with a stunning Shooting Star Press following some interference from McAfee.
This was a cracking moment for Ricochet as his stock immediately rose, while his opponent looked great even in defeat.
The show’s second match pitted Shinsuke Nakamura against Ludwig Kaiser with an opportunity at Gunther’s Intercontinental Title on the line.
The action was solid and entertaining, with Nakamura pinning Ludwig to earn an IC Title shot next week.
Liv Morgan was loudly booed by the fans and met with ‘you tapped out’ chants as she came out to address to retain the SmackDown Women’s Title at SummerSlam.
The champ actually thanked the fans for ‘calling her out on her s**t’ but insisted she was proud of the way she fought through everything Ronda threw at her before getting the victory – and the reaction is a concerning one for WWE and Liv.
Up next, Shayna Baszler beat Raquel Rodriguez to win a Gauntlet Match and set herself up as Liv’s opponent for Clash At The Castle, with Rodriguez having beat Sonya Deville (who eliminated Aliyah), Shotzi, Xia Li and Natalya before falling to the Queen of Spades.
The Viking Raiders destroyed poor Tommy Gibson and Jim Mulkey before Kofi Kingston charged out with a kendo stick and went wild to get some revenge after King Xavier Woods had been taken out of action.
He then took on Erik one on one and beat his rival, setting up a future match between the two teams as their feud rumbles on.
WWE SmackDown airs Friday nights at 1am on BT Sport 1.
WWE SmackDown results and grades - August 6, 2022
- Ricochet pinned Happy Corbin (A-)
- IC Title match on the line: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Ludwig Kaiser (B+)
- Gauntlet Match: Shayna Baszler defeated Raquel Rodriguez, Natalya, Xia Lia, Shotzi and Aliyah (B)
- The Viking Raiders destroyed Tommy Gibson and Jim Mulkey before Kofi Kingston pinned Erik (B-)
