This was a very Bloodline-heavy episode of Friday Night Smackdown, as WWE slowly makes its way towards the Crown Jewel PLE. Jey Uso made a surprise appearance to plead with Solo Sikoa to stop messing with The Bloodline and heal their family, before again turning down the approaches of Roman Reigns and his brother Jimmy. Solo Sikoa had no time for family sentiment as he demanded Roman acknowledge him as the Tribal Chief. Reigns’ refusal landed him his biggest beating by The Bloodline yet.
Cody Rhodes made a valiant attempt to validate the Crown Jewel Championship, which will be the prize for his upcoming Champion vs Champion match with Gunther. The Motor City Machine Guns made their WWE debut and booked a Tag Team Championship Number One Contenders match against DIY on next week’s show. Piper Niven suffered defeat to NXT’s Lash Legend and Candice LeRae would cover for Tiffany Stratton and enjoy victory with Nia Jax over Bayley and Naomi. Kevin Owens’s actions last week saw him banned from this week’s show.
The Bloodline
Solo Sikoa Gives Roman Reigns Another Beating
As Solo Sikoa and The Bloodline opened the show, the biggest crowd reaction of the night greeted the shock arrival of Jey Uso, ahead of his Intercontinental Championship defense on this Monday’s episode of Raw. As Jey made a heartfelt appeal to Solo Sikoa to stop breaking up the family, only stopping to become the first man to make a threat to Jacob Fatu, it felt like it could be a long night for The Bloodline. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
The tone was set by the new leader of The Bloodline, telling Jey Uso and the world that the only way Solo Sikoa will stop is if Roman Reigns acknowledges him as his Tribal Chief by the end of the evening. When Roman would not yield, Sikoa would call for The Bloodline who emerged from the back with a bloodied and battered Jimmy Uso. Roman would fend off The Bloodline at first but Solo Sikoa would hit two Samoan Spikes to Reigns to hand him his biggest beating yet. The crowd may chant that he sucks, but Solo Sikoa is currently SmackDown’s second-most dominant force.
Motor City Machine Guns
A Victorious Debut From The Tag-Team Veterans
Same theme music, same high-flying action, but a brand new playing field. Detroit, Michigan’s Motor City Machine Guns are the most respected tag team in the history of TNA, and their arrival in WWE in the twilight of their career is an exciting development. This is a tag team division loaded with talent and an audience that is willing to receive anyone who has something of value to give. A debut victory over ex-champions A-Town Down Under, leading to a tag team championship opportunity in your second week is one hell of a start.
Even something as small as the team having a new t-shirt in the WWE shop may have made a big splash online, but that did not translate to Columbia, South Carolina as the Motor City Machine Guns only received a tepid response in the live environment. Watching Shelley and Sabin have to work the crowd is fascinating viewing, and also presumably why it was initially expected that the team would debut on NXT. However, MCMG will have an instant chance to make another good impression in their first-ever tag match with DIY to determine the number one contenders for The Bloodline’s SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
DIY
Ciampa And Gargano Remind Everyone Of Their Skills
It has been a great few weeks for The Street Profits, but this night belonged to DIY. Having a very short run as tag team champions before being displaced by The Bloodline, fans could be forgiven for forgetting about Ciampa and Gargano lately. Rounded out by the ever-impressive Pretty Deadly, this incredible triple-threat tag match was an absolute riot with Gargano and Angelo Dawkins’s co-op moves on Elton Prince and Kit Wilson standing out.
Credit to a really clever finish too. Among the carnage, it was easy to keep track of which member of Pretty Deadly was the legal man. When Montez Ford and Tommaso Ciampa both pinned a member of the flamboyant duo, it felt like a double decision was imminent. Instead, Ciampa pinning the legal Kit Wilson meant a big victory for DIY and, given the chaotic circumstances, The Street Profits still came out looking like future tag champs. A really fun and high-octane match.
Candice LeRae and Nia Jax
A Shock In The Women’s Division
After being told by commentary that there had been drama revolving around the night’s upcoming women’s tag match, Nick Aldis revealed that Tiffany Stratton was absent with illness and it left Nia Jax without a partner. Out of leftfield, new WWE Women’s Speed Champion, Candice LeRae offered to step in and partner with the women’s champion. The Smackdown GM booked the match as soon as it was suggested, but that wasn’t to be the most shocking event of the evening.
You never know what is going to happen in the WWE and that is proven when Candice LeRae scored the pinfall for the victory in a match full of top-tier talent including Naomi, Bayley, and Women’s Champion, Nia Jax. What it will lead to for Candice is the most intriguing thing to a segment that felt a little bit filler when Jax’s main focus has been Liv Morgan and Crown Jewel.
Roman Reigns and Jimmy Uso
The Quest To Reunite The Tribe Continues
This was a bad Friday night for Roman on an emotional and physical level. When Jey Uso’s music hit unexpectedly in South Carolina, hopes were high that this could be the night that he returned to his family. Instead, this family affair feels at a critical impasse as Jey Uso has emphatically turned down both Jimmy and Roman’s advances this week. The wounds of the past are yet to heal and it leaves Roman Reigns in a weakened and vulnerable state.
It is impressive that WWE is emphasizing that fans have taken Roman back without a moment’s hesitation, but this roster has not forgotten what he put them through during his title reign. Roman Reigns took the biggest beating we’ve seen him take this year because he has no friends, and that only makes fans root for him even harder. His devoted followers are being taken on the scenic route to their destination, but when Roman and Jimmy finally get the band back together, it is going to feel transcendent.
Piper Niven
A Big Loss For The Scottish Sidekick
One of the key initiatives of WWE is the continued resurgence of interest in the NXT brand. Talent from the developmental brand has been enjoying crossover with their main roster colleagues, and Lash Legend is the latest NXT superstar to look strong in a big victory over Piper Niven. But what now for the Scottish bad lass?
Over the past six months and under the radar, Piper Niven has flourished in her role as sidekick to the madcap Chelsea Green. This defeat felt like a real sucker punch for Piper, someone who would surely be considered a contender for the heavily-rumored Women’s mid-card title. Her next match suddenly feels like a must-win situation for Piper Niven. Don’t count her out.
- Michael Cole has only missed 3 episodes of television in his time with WWE.
- Jey Uso vs Jacob Fatu is WresleMania worthy.
- This was Pretty Deadly’s first televised match since August 9th.
- Bless Cody Rhodes. No matter how many of wrestling’s great names he drops, nobody can find it in themselves to care about the Crown Jewel Championship.
- Next week’s SmackDown will feature Carmelo Hayes and Andrade’s Game 7 with LA Knight as Special Guest Referee.
- Kevin Owens posting a video to X is enough to have everyone excited for his upcoming character change.
- Randy Orton has been informed by Nick Aldis that his request for a match with Kevin Owens has been denied “from above him.”
- This was Candice LeRae’s first match on SmackDown since July 5th.
- The Motor City Machine Guns have been World Tag Team Champions in TNA, New Japan Pro Wrestling, NWA, and PWG and are one of the very few teams to kick out of The Dudley Boyz 3D finisher. Welcome to WWE!
- Gunther will be on SmackDown next week for a face-to-face with Cody Rhodes.
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