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A big tag team match was set for WWE SmackDown as The Usos and The Street Profits fought in a dream clash on Friday.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Tamina and Natalya went up against The Riott Squad in a non-title match. Meanwhile, Rey and Dominik Mysterio defended their SmackDown Tag Team Championships against The Dirty Dawgs.
Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman were present during Friday Night’s broadcast, as they tried to manipulate Jey Uso throughout the show. Bianca Belair defeated Carmella as Bayley watched on. It looks like Bayley will be getting a rematch against Belair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship soon.
Birthday boy Seth Rollins came out in another eye-popping suit to cut a wild promo. SmackDown hit all the right notes to give fans another memorable show.
Let's take a look at the five things WWE got right on SmackDown this week.
#5 The Usos defeated The Street Profits in a great opener on WWE SmackDown
The Usos were ready to take over the WWE SmackDown tag team division this week. The brothers told Roman Reigns that they would defeat The Street Profits and then go on to win the SmackDown tag team titles soon.
Reigns continued to plant seeds of doubt in Jey’s head before The Usos returned to tag team action. The Street Profits hit the ring and cut a promo, putting their clash over as a dream match.
After members of both teams were done talking, they got down to business in the ring. Jimmy and Jey showed great chemistry once again and isolated Montez Ford for some time.
Ford took down the brothers before tagging Angelo Dawkins into the match. Dawkins came in all fired up and unloaded on his opponents as the two teams continued to trade some big moves.
Ford looked set to take the victory with a frog splash to Jimmy, but Jey moved his brother out of the way. This allowed Jimmy to hit the superkick on Ford to earn the win for his team.
The Usos and The Street Profits are two of the top tag teams in WWE today. They delivered one of the best tag team openers in recent memory on SmackDown. It was good to watch Jimmy and Jey work together after such a long time.
While The Street Profits are pretty bulletproof, WWE needs to ensure that they do not pick up too many losses as it can affect their credibility in the long run.
#4 WWE SmackDown built towards a potential return of the King of the Ring tournament
Rick Boogs returned on WWE SmackDown and introduced Shinsuke Nakamura during another exhilarating entrance. Nakamura was set to wrestle Chad Gable on SmackDown this week instead of King Corbin.
Otis attacked Nakamura before the match and softened him up for Gable to take advantage. Gable took control with a couple of German Suplexes, but he could not keep the Japanese Superstar down for long.
The two SmackDown superstars traded some moves before King Corbin entered the frame. Corbin took back the crown Nakamura stole from him. Inside the ring, Nakamura picked up the victory with a Kinshasa, as Boogs rocked Corbin with a big right hand. This allowed Nakamura to take back the crown he stole in the first place.
It looks like WWE is working towards another King of the Ring Tournament. The timing seems to be good and King Corbin needs a change in character. Losing the crown could be beneficial for Corbin.
As the King of Strong Style, Nakamura seems like the perfect superstar to become the next King of the Ring.
Otis and Gable could also end up benefiting from such a tournament as it would help them receive more television time on SmackDown.
#3 Seth Rollins continued his delusional behavior on WWE SmackDown
The drip was strong on WWE SmackDown as Seth Rollins walked out to the ring to celebrate his 35th birthday. Rollins wasted little time before calling out his archenemy, Cesaro.
Rollins went wild once again as he blamed Cesaro and the WWE Universe for what he did to The Swiss Superman last week, criticizing the fans for making Cesaro believe he could outdo The Messiah on SmackDown.
Rollins said that his hands were clean and that he had nothing to do with the fate endured by The Swiss Superman a week earlier. The Messiah then sang "Happy Birthday" to himself before the segment came to an end.
Seth Rollins has been a pro at cutting promos in WWE. However, his latest SmackDown promo was even more twisted than his previous ones as he continued to fine-tune his current character.
It looks like Rollins is ready for a bigger program on SmackDown, one that could end up taking him into the Universal Championship picture.
He will likely compete against Cesaro at Hell in a Cell, and that match could end up crowning the next challenger to Roman Reigns’ title.
#2 Commander Azeez helped Apollo Crews retain the Intercontinental Championship on WWE SmackDown
Apollo Crews walked out on WWE SmackDown for a non-title match against Kevin Owens. With Commander Azeez by his side, the Intercontinental Champion seemed a little too confident before the match got underway.
KO went on the attack early and nailed Crews with a corner cannonball before hitting him with a frog splash. Crews recovered to take the fight back to The Prizefighter, but could not keep control of the match for long.
After a few moves, KO caught the Intercontinental Champion with the Stunner and went for the pin. Commander Azeez then broke up the pin and hit KO with the Nigerian Nail, resulting in a disqualification.
After the match, Owens demanded a title match against Crews in front of Adam Pearce, and the WWE official granted him the same. Pearce additionally banned Azeez from ringside.
While the match itself wasn’t anything special, it could lead to a bigger rivalry on SmackDown.
Sami Zayn may interfere in next week's Intercontinental title clash, resulting in a triple threat match for the title at Hell in a Cell.
#1 The Usos defied Roman Reigns’ orders on WWE SmackDown
Throughout WWE SmackDown, Roman Reigns tried to turn Jey Uso’s attention away from his brother. However, Jimmy Uso was a little too pumped up as he requested Adam Pearce for a shot at the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. Reigns wanted Jey to continue following his orders rather than chasing the SmackDown tag team titles with his brother.
In the main event of SmackDown, Dominik and Rey Mysterio were all set to defend their titles against Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. However, WWE decided to repeat the storyline from WrestleMania Backlash, as this time, Rey got jumped by The Dirty Dawgs and was left writhing in pain backstage.
Dominik had to come out to defend the titles all by himself, and he took a lot of punishment from the heels throughout the match. Ziggler and Roode played perfect heel characters as they pushed around the young superstar and took him to the edge.
Rey appeared late in the match, and his distraction allowed Dominik to capitalize and retain the gold. After the bout, The Usos hit the ring and talked trash to the victorious champions.
Backstage, Reigns watched on and seemed quite unhappy with these developments. SmackDown seems to be working towards a major angle that could make or break The Usos.
The storyline involving The Tribal Chief and his cousins is set to take a big turn in the weeks to come. WWE has done increasingly well to keep fans interested in Reigns and his family over the past several months.
Meanwhile, The Usos and The Mysterios' feud could spell the end of the father-son duo's current SmackDown Tag Team Championship reign in the long run.
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