The Bloodline cemented itself as one of the greatest factions of all time with an historic victory on SmackDown.
On Friday night, the blue brand’s tag team champions The Usos defeated their Raw counterparts in RK-Bro to unify both sets of titles in a major main event with high stakes.
Before we get to that, it should be noted that WWE also made a major announcement that and stripped of the Women’s Tag Team Championships with all merchandise pulled after earlier this week.
Back to SmackDown, the show kicked off with a typically brilliant promo from Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and his special counsel Paul Heyman, as Jimmy and Jey joined them in the ring.
Heyman discussed the significant of the Samoa Dynasty in wrestling and The Bloodline’s own role in that, and revealed that The Usos would no longer be welcome on the Island of Relevancy if they lost the Tag Team Championship Unification Match.
The Tribal Chief insisted he had such high expectations for his cousins because he loves them, as he continued to be a master manipulator.
It set the stage with added stakes for the main event, which was an instant classic on free TV, given plenty of time to tell a thrilling story.
In the end, Reigns got involved and helped Jey avoid a top rope RKO from Riddle, and Uso hit a splash from the top rope moments later to pick up the win.
After the bell, all three of The Bloodline launched a vicious attack on Orton and Riddle, suggesting things may not be over between the two teams.
Sasha Banks and Naomi suspended, Xavier Woods beats Butch and Sami Zayn loses to Shinsuke Nakamura
The first match of the night saw take on Shinsuke Nakamura in singles action, and the latter had a tense stand-off with Reigns before heading down to the ring.
This was a cracking bout with plenty of drama as the fans embraced every moment before Nakamura picked up a win to get one step closer to facing the Tribal Chief.
Meanwhile, Zayn continues to try and represent The Bloodline while losing, with his direction proving very intriguing as things rumble on.
Happy Corbin blasted Madcap Moss on the mic and took pride in the last week.
To really add insult to injury, Corbin smashed up the Andre the Giant trophy – a prize he won earlier in his career.
Drew Gulak had a chance at redemption this week as he faced GUNTHER for the second time, while last week he was victim to a brutal backstage chop.
The Ring General picked up the obvious dominating win, but Ricochet ran down to save Gulak with GUNTHER locked him in a Boston Crab after the bell.
Backstage, LA Knight debuted under the name Max Dupri and introduced himself to Adam Pearce as the CEO of a male modelling company looking for talent to headline fashion week and WrestleMania.
Aliyah and Shotzi argued in gorilla position before the latter also insulted Raquel Gonzalez, which didn’t seem wise after she .
The rising star beat her green-haired opponent in a dominating performance which did its job, although it’s a massive shame to see Shotzi being used in this way.
Butch went solo against Xavier Woods this week with neither star accompanied their respective allies – and this storyline still rumbles on, with the ending coming asoverdid it with the strikes and got caught with the Backwoods roll-up to give Woods the win.
After the bell, Butch started to run through the crowd, but a distraction from Sheamus and Ridge Holland on the ramp left the window open for him to lay out Xavier with a knee strike.
WWE SmackDown airs Friday nights at 1am on BT Sport 1.
WWE SmackDown results and grades
- Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Sami Zayn (B+)
- GUNTHER destroyed Drew Gulak (C+)
- Raquel Rodriguez beat Shotzi (C+)
- Xavier Woods pinned Butch (B)
- Tag Team Championship Unification Match: The Usos defeated RK-Bro (A)
