Friday Night SmackDown emanates tonight from the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. From London to New York, we will witness the fallout from Money in the Bank on tonight’s show; most notably, the ‘Tribal Court: The Trial of The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns.’
Tonight’s show will also see Austin Theory defend the United States Championship against Sheamus. Meanwhile, Karrion Kross and AJ Styles will go one-on-one for the first time ever.
WWE Hall of Famer Edge will also be making his return tonight, and he will be a guest on ‘The Grayson Waller Effect,’ presumably to spawn off his SummerSlam program.
All this, and more, on Friday Night SmackDown!
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The Usos are in the house to kick off Friday Night SmackDown. They have their fan and play with the crowd before they are interrupted by Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa. Heyman declares that tonight, he will he serve as defense counsel to the Tribal Chief. As he begins to start presenting evidence, The Usos tell him to shut up.
Paul E. laughs and says there is ONLY ONE MAN who can tell him to stop talking, and that ain’t them. Solo palms Heyman’s mic. Heyman looks shocked. Enter the Tribal Chief…
Back from the commercial, Reigns goes, “Madison Square Garden — ACKNOWLEDGE ME!” He admits that while he was pinned at MITB by Jey, he is still The Tribal Chief. And he didn’t call for Tribal Court. So, who had that authority? The Usos introduce exhibit A; a video package showing Roman Reigns being a dictator and taking things too far with The Usos far too often. It also shows him being ruthless with Paul Heyman, too. And Solo.
Reigns smirks and makes those trademark expressions as the crowd chants “You f*cked up!” Reigns responds, “No, I didn’t…” The fans chant “Yes you did!” Reigns says the guy seen in that video package is not who he is. It’s who he was forced to be. He says he did it for The Bloodline, he did it for The Usos, Solo and Heyman.
The fans begin another NSFW chant before Reigns talks about being in the WrestleMania main event long before The Bloodline. He has been the moral compass for this family. He has constantly put himself in situations he shouldn’t have been in, for all of them. And this is what he gets? We see another video package…
His daughter is in the back looking at him improperly because of them. He says he takes on the weight of the world, with all of their families on his back. He says he’s got five children in his household and asks if they think he needed to take on theirs, too. Roman doesn’t need this in his life. He doesn’t need money, power or any of this. Umbrella service sounds really nice to him now.
Is that what they want? Because he doesn’t. He’s done. He’s done with all of it. He doesn’t want it anymore. If they want it, it’s theirs. Jey Uso seems to be the focus as the new potential Tribal Chief. He stares him down directly after dropping the mic.
The crowd sings the “hey hey hey, goodbye!” song. Reigns takes his tribal lay off and holds it in his hands. He gets emotional and crowns Jey the new leader of the family. He drops his title and kneels down to acknowledge the new Tribal Chief. Crying. The fans chant “Holy sh*t!” Jey touches Roman’s neck and leans down to talk to him.
Suddenly, Reigns low blows him. Jimmy attack Reigns out in the corner but is taken out by Solo. He stares at Roman, and then the tribal lay. The fans are losing it, going bats**t. They chant for Solo. He takes Jimmy out with the Samoan Spike. He picks up the lay and the fans chant “Put it on! Put it on!” Roman looks up at him and stands up. Solo hesitantly hands it to him. Jey attacks from behind. Solo takes him out again. Roman hits a superman punch on Jimmy.
Ringside, Roman and Solo continue to beat up The Usos and clear off the announce table. They tie up Jey in the ring ropes. Roman tells him that he’ll never be the Tribal Chief while he’s alive. He attacks Jimmy with his newest belt and continues the assault on him, forcing Jey to watch. Jey is yelling for Roman to stop, but Reigns escalates the assault with the steel steps.
Jey finally frees himself and takes out Solo and attacks Roman. As Jey gets a little bit of an opening, Solo hits a Samoan Spike on him. They take him to the announce table and bury Jey under a pile of desk chairs. Solo splashes Jimmy through the announce table. Heyman is seen acknowledging his Tribal Chief as Reigns holds his title high. We head to commercial.
AND SCENE!
Back from the break, Jey Uso accompanies Jimmy Uso into an ambulance, as they head to the hospital. Not a medical facility. A hospital.
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#1. Austin Theory vs. Sheamus (United States Championship) – Winner: Austin Theory
Toward the finish, Pretty Deadly ran down to the ring, followed by The Brawling Brutes. The Brawling Brutes started living up to their name, and Theory took advantage amid the chaos to retain the title.
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Next up, is The Grayson Waller Effect.
Waller says that there have been a ton of iconic WWE moments in MSG, but it’s time for the biggest one of them all. Out comes the WWE Hall of Famer, Edge, as the fans sing him to the ring.
As Edge begins addressing the WWE Universe, he is repeatedly interrupted by Waller. Edge talks about his WWE debut at SummerSlam 1998, before Waller talks about Edge’s retirement.
Edge brings up how Waller was in the ring with John Cena last week, and with him this week. Someone somewhere obviously sees something in him. But Waller hasn’t even had a match on the main roster yet. Edge says he’s not retiring (to a huge pop). In fact, he’s gonna have a match here tonight. Against Waller himself.
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#2. AJ Styles vs. Karrion Kross – Winner: AJ Styles
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Out next is Asuka. As she begins to speak something we won’t understand anyway, she’s interrupted by Bianca Belair. They start brawling, before Charlotte Flair joins in. Iyo Sky, alongside Bayley, comes out as well to cash in her Money in the Bank contract. The chaos, however, forces her to forego the opportunity to cash-in, for now.
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#3. Edge vs. Grayson Waller – Winner: Edge
Good match. Great debut for Grayson Waller, and great showcase for Edge. Following the match, Edge says, “Hey Waller … you swam.”
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Backstage in The Bloodline’s locker room, Paul E. informs his Tribal Chief that Jey Uso is back in the building, as we learned during the previous match. He’s looking for Reigns, who says that he won’t have to wait much longer, because he’s heading out to the ring.
Back from commercial, Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa are in the ring. Reigns asks New York to acknowledge him once again, before The Usos’ theme plays. Jey walks out from amongst the crowd. He leaps over the barricade and takes out Solo. He grabs a steel chair and enters the ring. He attacks Reigns, but Solo is back to the rescue. This allows Roman to retreat. Jey starts teeing off on Solo, before he takes a microphone.
After his actions tonight, Roman is looking at the judge, the jury and the executioner of the Tribal Court. It’s gonna be trial by combat. He doesn’t care about Solo or Heyman, he wants the Tribal Chief one on one. Roman and Jey stare down…
AND SCENE!
Thanks for joining us for SmackDown. I’ll be here with you guys tomorrow night, same time, for AEW Collision!
