For Roman Reigns, being the undisputed champion with his cousins, The Usos, at his side with the SmackDown tag team championship is not enough. While detailing the next step for The Bloodline on Friday’s SmackDown, Reigns said The Usos must head to Raw to unify the tag titles the same way he unified the WWE and universal championships by beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.
Reigns would ultimately be interrupted by a surprising presence as Shinsuke Nakamura came to the ring for a confrontation. The Bloodline was one step ahead of Nakamura, however, and ended the show standing triumphant.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Roman Reigns details The Bloodline’s next move
Roman Reigns closed the show with an in-ring promo with The Usos and Paul Heyman. Reigns noted that he’s one man with two titles, but the Usos are two men with two titles. In order to show the greatness Reigns said his cousins are capable of, he said The Usos needed to unify the tag team titles. Reigns said The Usos need to go to Raw and take the titles, cementing The Bloodline with all the titles.
Shinsuke Nakamura’s music then hit and he made his way to the ring, absent the presence of Rick Boogs, who suffered a quadriceps injury at WrestleMania. Reigns cut Nakamura off before he could speak. Reigns said he understands how Nakamura feels after losing his partner and offered Nakamura a hug only for The Usos to strike with a superkick, putting Nakamura down to end the show.
WWE has certainly done plenty of work to get to Usos vs. RK-Bro, with the teams meeting for multiple weeks on Raw. The idea of unifying the tag belts is certainly appealing. But more appealing is a short program featuring Nakamura challenging Reigns. There are much worse ways to kill a few weeks than Nakamura getting a main event program. He’s clearly not seen as a top player, but he remains wildly over and can hold up his end in this program. Grade: B+
What else happened on WWE SmackDown?
- Ronda Rousey challenged Charlotte Flair to an “I quit” match at WrestleMania Backlash. Flair responded by saying she didn’t quit at WrestleMania and that “The Baddest Woman on the Planet” is a myth. She then shot down the challenge, telling Rousey to “get in the back of the line.” Rousey vowed the match would happen regardless.
- Xavier Woods def. Butch via pinfall with a small package. Butch was livid after the loss, throwing chops and punches at teammates Sheamus and Ridge Holland.
- Gunther def. Joe Alonzo via pinfall with a powerbomb. Ludwig Kaiser (Marcel Barthel with a new name) and Gunther made their SmackDown debuts with Kaiser introducing Gunther ahead of the squash match.
- Raquel Rodriguez (former NXT women’s champion Raquel Gonzalez) made her SmackDown debut. Los Lotharios attempted to get a kiss from Rodriguez only to be blown off.
- Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss brawled during “Happy Talk” when Corbin told Moss it was his fault Corbin lost to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania. Corbin said Moss — who won the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal — made the weekend all about him.
- Drew McIntyre def. Sami Zayn via countout. Zayn told Adam Pearce he would wrestle the next man to walk out of the locker room to rebuild his reputation after losing to Johnny Knoxville. McIntyre was that man, and after plenty of McIntyre dominance, Zayn ran from the ring and through the crowd to take the countout.
- A pre-taped interview with Lacey Evans aired with Evans discussing her rough upbringing. It appears she is on her way back and will return as a babyface.
- Liv Morgan def. Sasha Banks via pinfall when she countered a superplex into a pin. Morgan and Rhea Ripley challenge Banks and Naomi for the women’s tag titles on Monday.