In a rare interview, Jimmy & Jey Uso opened up to Ariel Helwani ahead of their highly-anticipated match against Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa at Saturday’s WWE Money in the Bank, talking about Trinity Fatu leaving, Jimmy’s DUI arrest, and more.
While the two have made tag team wrestling their priority, Jey said his dream is to face Jimmy at WrestleMania “like back in the living room, uce.” He would want his family to be involved like their father, Rikishi, as referee.
Jimmy said they never pitched a split of their team, but would be supportive of each other if that was best for their careers as they could always come back to the team. Earlier in the interview, he said he was inspired by how Jey was performing during the pandemic era while he was recovering from his own injury.
The two agreed the injury was “a blessing in disguise” and weren’t sure where they would be today if that didn’t happen.
“We’re having the most fun in our careers. We have tapped into something different in our careers…revamped us and we’ve leveled up,” Jimmy said.
Trinity’s departure
Jimmy was asked about last year’s situation that saw his wife, Trinity Fatu, leave WWE along with Mercedes Money (Sasha Banks). He said “it’s been weird” after being on the road together for 12 years and that’s it been an adjustment, but they are making it work as she’s enjoying her time in Impact.
He said the night they left, he had a match and when he came to the back, she left and he knew something was happening. He would like for her to eventually come back in a perfect world so they could end their careers in the place they both started.
Jey joked he wants her back on the road so she can be the middleman between the two brothers so they don’t have to be around each other so much.
The DUI arrest
Asked about his DUI arrest last year, Jimmy said he wasn’t concerned about the situation.
“Everyone has their issues outside work, everyone’s human. everyone makes mistakes and go through it. As long as you face the noise, even if we got in trouble, we always stood right in front of our mess, our noise, we push through it, learn from it, keep it moving” he said.
Jey said they were initially against having Sami Zayn involved in The Bloodline angle as part of the family but was wrong. Jey joked that he needed to be more professional when he was legitimately cracking up during some of the live promos.
Asked about The Rock being involved, the two joked about it and said there are layers to his Bloodline storyline that they haven’t even got to yet.
The two also talked about Rikishi’s influence in their life, and how their own kids don’t know what’s going on in WWE and think they are “lame.”
WWE has some added motivation to make this year’s Money in the Bank a memorable show.
The company is in the midst of negotiating for its next U.S. TV rights agreement, making the coming months more important than any WrestleMania season ever could be.
This is like when a top athlete is in the final year of their deal and has a little extra incentive to have a good season. Nick Khan surely wants to pad WWE’s stats as he sits at the negotiating table, so if there was ever a time to hotshot a few angles or something else enticing, it’s now.
The exclusive WWE TV rights negotiating windows for both Fox and NBCUniversal have expired, meaning we are already deep into free agency season. WWE is now free to negotiate with other interested parties including Disney, Amazon or even the New York Yankees. (Maybe one of those isn’t legit).
Another reason WWE is motivated to put on a good show in London this weekend is that they have been trying for years to turn Money in the Bank into an annual event on the level of Royal Rumble or SummerSlam.
Having to move last year’s edition out of Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium and into the MGM Grand certainly didn’t help matters in that regard. A fun and newsworthy 2023 show in London could be exactly what the 13-year-old event needs.
Another potential factor for Saturday’s show is that AEW will run nearby Wembley Stadium 57 days later for All In. The big stadium event will make AEW look like a major league promotion in a way it never has before and that could motivate WWE to make sure theirs is the more fondly remembered of the two shows. Maybe we see a surprise return or debut, a big angle, or something else meant to create a historical moment as a result.
Below are previews and predictions for Saturday’s event (2 PM Eastern on Peacock and/or WWE Network):
Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa vs. Jimmy & Jey Uso
Reigns and Sikoa are -140 favorites to defeat The Usos in what will be the first civil war to take place in England since the 17th century.
In terms of betting odds, this is the closest match on the show. Ultimately, the Usos will win the blowoff to this feud but that could be several months away. I just don’t think they are going to beat the WWE Universal Champion and Sikoa so soon in the story.
You can also make the argument that Sikoa and Reigns need to get a win after losing to Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn at Night of Champions. Of course, it won’t be a clean win. Something underhanded will be done to both give the heels an advantage and also move WWE’s top storyline into its next chapter.
One thought is that a new member of The Bloodline could possibly debut on Saturday.
With only Sikoa and Paul Heyman by his side now, it seems like Reigns needs more people to acknowledge him as their Tribal Chief. The problem is that I’m not certain who is available to be slotted into that role. Jacob Fatu is believed to be under contract with MLW until 2025, Lance Anoa’i was just announced for NOAH’s N1 tournament this summer, and others in the family are still too early in their training.
When it looked as though Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Hikuleo could be WWE bound, I thought they could be added to the mix. While not members of the Anoa’i dynasty, Haku’s kids are close enough to the family that they could choose to acknowledge Reigns as their Tribal Chief. But then Vince McMahon returned to WWE and rumors of the Guerrillas of Destiny coming in became less and less.
If it’s not a new member of The Bloodline, there will have to be some other storyline development leading to the finish of this match.
Prediction: Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
Rollins is a -2000 favorite to retain his title.
He’s tied for being the biggest favorite on the card as very few fans are giving Balor much of a chance. He and Rollins will have a great match but ultimately, we are still at the beginning of Rollins’ story as the fighting World champion.
As much as I know some wrestling fans don’t want to admit it, this version of Seth Rollins is incredibly popular. Fans love him, they love singing his song, and they love that he’s World champion. His weird laughing and sing-songy entrance have made him more of a larger-than-life character than he ever has been before.
Whether you find fans singing his song annoying or even his over-the-top Joaquin Phoenix Joker impression gets on your nerves, he’s still Seth Rollins once the bell rings. He will win what is expected to be a great match in London.
Prediction: Rollins retains
Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match
IYO Sky is a -500 favorite to win the briefcase.
Most people are banking on Sky winning and it setting up a showdown with Asuka at a later date. You just have to wonder how that plays into the tension they are building between Bayley (+500) and Sky. Something will happen during this match that furthers their story like Bayley preventing Sky from climbing the ladder or vice versa. Maybe Bayley acts happy for Sky winning at first, but then costs her a match against Asuka, etc.
Trish Stratus (+2000), Becky Lynch (+350), and Zoey Stark (+900) all have their own storyline going on that will eventually lead to Lynch vs. Stratus at SummerSlam, I’m assuming. They will tell their own story as this match goes on, but it won’t have anything to do with the finish.
Then, there is Zelina Vega (+2000). While I don’t think she’ll win, the +2000 odds are a little off. I don’t recommend actually betting on wrestling but if I was going to, I might put a little money on Vega with those numbers. Perhaps the reason few are giving her much of a chance is because she just had her big match for the title at the Puerto Rican WrestleMania that was Backlash. Still, Vega will probably wear something cool to the ring and everyone likes it when she does that.
Prediction: IYO Sky
Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match
LA Knight is a -250 favorite to win the briefcase.
It feels as though both WWE fans and Triple H want the company to go all the way with Knight. However, the real question is how far is Vince McMahon willing to go with him?
McMahon was reportedly not high on the guy after he was cast in the role of Max Dupri last year. Knight is also over the age that McMahon generally likes to push new stars. Will the fan response to Knight be enough for McMahon to admit he was wrong about the guy? Maybe, maybe not.
If this was Triple H booking the show, the Money in the Bank match is the perfect opportunity to strap the rocket pack onto Knight. It’s possible that is what happens, but I feel Logan Paul (+150) is actually more likely to win.
Paul carrying around the Money in the Bank briefcase while he’s doing his other non-WWE stuff is perfect crossover promotion. The briefcase sitting in the background during Impaulsive and the potential of him being asked about it during media appearances are all things Nick Khan seems to enjoy very much.
The other contenders to win the briefcase are Damian Priest (+170), Shinsuke Nakamura (+2000), Santos Escobar (+2000), Butch (+2500), and Ricochet (+3000).
Prediction: Logan Paul
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler defend against Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
Rousey & Baszler are -1000 favorites to retain over Morgan and Rodriguez.
I’m a little surprised that Morgan and Rodriguez aren’t bigger underdogs. It seems as though the plan is for Rousey and Baszler to defend the WWE tag titles on all three brands moving forward. That’s an excuse to bring Rousey’s star power to any of WWE’s weekly shows while in the middle of TV rights negotiations.
WWE has had success getting the ratings up for NXT by bringing on main roster stars recently. Rousey and Baszler showing up on Tuesday nights from time to time is a good way to keep that trend going.
Prediction: Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler retain
Intercontinental Champion Gunther defends against Matt Riddle
Gunther is a -2000 favorite to retain over Riddle.
This is the match that will steal the show. These two have a long history together dating back to a 2017 WXW tour in Germany. In fact, Saturday won’t even be the first title match they have had against each other in London.
Riddle successfully defended the Progress Atlas title against then-WALTER at Progress 46 from the Electric Ballroom in London on March 26, 2017. The match followed WALTER eliminating Riddle in the semifinals of the 16 Carat Gold tournament two weeks prior. In total, they have wrestled each other 11 times across promotions such as EVOLVE, Progress, WXW, Ambition, and PWG before either signed with WWE. Their styles align nicely.
Imperium injured Riddle’s ankle recently on Raw, so I’m expecting that to factor into the finish of what should be an excellent match.
Prediction: Gunther retains
Cody Rhodes vs. Dominik Mysterio
Rhodes is a -700 favorite to defeat Mysterio.
An interesting note about the odds is that Rhodes was actually a bigger favorite to defeat Roman Reigns at WrestleMania than he is to beat Dominik here.
In storyline, this is a significant drop in competition for Rhodes. He’s spent the last two pay-per-views facing Brock Lesnar and went up against Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania before that. No offense to Dominik, but he doesn’t quite have the pedigree of Rhodes’ other recent opponents.
This will be a good match. Rhodes is going to go out of his way to make Dominik look good, perhaps doing so in a way that hasn’t been done for Dom Dom since he started getting hot alongside Judgment Day.
WWE has given Dominik wins over Xavier Woods, Apollo Crews, and Akira Tozawa since WrestleMania. If they want to take full advantage of the massive heat the guy is generating at the moment, it makes sense to give him some wins over bigger names. I just don’t see them doing that against Rhodes, however.
That’s not the only example of how many of the old pro wrestling tropes don’t apply anymore.
From Friday’s WWE SmackDown: LA Knight is over, but is he too old to push? Also, Roman Reigns passed Pedro Morales and The Uso Penitentiary is back.
Speaking of Rampage, the show had good wrestling and some notable surprises including John Hennigan and Tom Lawlor. We run down all the wrestling on Friday and preview Saturday’s AEW Collision.
One week after Jey Uso’s decision, The Usos continued to hold the advantage in the Bloodline Civil War.
Last night’s SmackDown ended with The Usos laying out their brother Solo Sikoa. They delivered a barrage of superkicks to Sikoa and then hit stereo splashes from the top rope. Sikoa had no backup because Roman Reigns wasn’t at SmackDown.
Sikoa faced off with Sheamus in the main event of the show. Their match ended in a stoppage after Sikoa gave Sheamus a Samoan Spike, a uranage onto the announce table, and then a hip attack through the barricade. As Sikoa was standing tall after the match, The Usos made their way down and laid him out.
Earlier in the night, The Usos opened the show and explained why they decided to leave The Bloodline. They said Reigns messed up by disrespecting them. Reigns is blood and they’ll always be able to forgive him, but The Usos blamed Paul Heyman for being a snake and causing the issues that exist.
Reigns will be back on next Friday’s SmackDown, which is taking place the night before Money in the Bank. The Usos are facing Reigns & Sikoa in a tag team match at the pay-per-view.
In what’s being billed as the “Bloodline Civil War,” Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa are set to face off with The Usos.
It was confirmed on this week’s episode of The SmackDown LowDown that Reigns & Sikoa vs. Jimmy & Jey Uso will take place at Money in the Bank. The pay-per-view is being held at The O2 Arena in London on Saturday, July 1.
The announcement of the match comes after Jey chose to side with Jimmy instead of Reigns & Sikoa. On last night’s SmackDown, Jey shocked Reigns by dropping him with a superkick. The Usos then worked together to lay out both Sikoa and Reigns.
Jey was forced to choose sides after the breakup of The Bloodline was kickstarted at Night of Champions. Jimmy gave Reigns a superkick that night, which cost Reigns & Sikoa a chance to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles from Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn.
The tag match means Reigns doesn’t have an Undisputed WWE Universal Championship defense scheduled for Money in the Bank.
The updated card for the PPV is listed below:
Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match: Ricochet vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar vs. Butch vs. Damian Priest
Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match: Zelina Vega vs. Becky Lynch vs. Zoey Stark vs. Bayley vs. IYO SKY vs. either Trish Stratus or Raquel Rodriguez
World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins defends against Finn Balor
Jey Uso emphatically made his decision on last night’s SmackDown, laying out Roman Reigns with a superkick. Both Jey and Jimmy Uso are now out of The Bloodline — and they look to be on a collision course for a tag match against Reigns & Solo Sikoa.
Jey was stuck between Jimmy and Reigns & Sikoa during last night’s main event segment. If Jey was going to stay in The Bloodline, he had the condition that Paul Heyman had to be out of the group. Reigns denied that, saying that Heyman is his wiseman and is there to help Reigns lead. Reigns said Jey could pick his own wiseman when he’s Tribal Chief someday. Reigns said the problem isn’t Heyman — it’s Jimmy.
Reigns revealed that, when Jey was named the right-hand man, Jimmy was the only person who had a problem with it. Jimmy admitted that was true, but he said he never doubted Jey.
It seemed like that might have been enough to get Jey to betray Jimmy. Jey said Jimmy is out of The Bloodline. But Jey then declared that he is too. He dropped Reigns with a superkick, then worked with Jimmy to lay out Sikoa. The show ended with both Usos giving Reigns a double superkick.
Based on what we saw at Saturday’s WWE Night of Champions, the end of tThe Bloodline may be near.
Or, at least, they are making progress towards that.
Jimmy Uso was the latest to turn on undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, superkicking him after Reigns pie faced him during Reigns & Solo Sikoa’s challenge of WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn.
The Usos had accidentally superkicked Sikoa after saving Reigns from Owens who was about to put Reigns through a table. Jey Uso was shocked by Jimmy Uso’s actions, but eventually left with his brother as Sikoa was pinned by Zayn. The show ended with the champions heckling Reigns, who sulked to the back.
The turn capped off what ended up being a pretty good show with everything delivering in terms of in-ring work. The main event in itself was probably the best match on the show in terms of drama. It’s good that The Bloodline storyline is finally going somewhere after weeks of teasing dissension.
What’s most interesting is that it’s playing into the longer storyline of Reigns and Cody Rhodes as Rhodes told Reigns that The Bloodline would fracture once he won the undisputed WWE Universal title. Even with Rhodes’ loss, it looks like that is happening regardless.
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Seth Rollins did capture the WWE World Heavyweight title, the bronze medal in WWE, after pinning AJ Styles. While it was a good match, perhaps very good, I don’t know if it was a great match. It was your usual classic main-event style WWE match with a strong emphasis on near falls and finishers.
I’m not sure what’s next for Rollins as I don’t feel like he’s in the position of being the strongest character on the brand (that goes to either Owens & Zayn or Rhodes). Maybe if they bring Drew McIntyre back as a heel, that may be another long-term storyline that could work.
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Rhodes lost his rematch against Brock Lesnar, passing out after a second kimura attempt after valiantly fighting the first. This was short, but fast-paced and also dramatic. Despite losing, they gave Rhodes a ton, using his titanium cast to give him an advantage despite “being injured.” Some people were upset by this loss, but unlike WrestleMania, I can see why they did this as they are building to a third match, perhaps either next month in London or at SummerSlam. Don’t fret, folks: the story continues and will for a long, long while.
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Asuka won the WWE Raw Women’s championship, defeating Bianca Belair in another good match. I think the most interesting part of this match is Belair losing the title, which she had held since last year’s SummerSlam. They had already gotten the line out that she was the longest-reigning Women’s champion of the modern era, so once she hit that, the title run became endangered. I don’t think this is the end of the feud, but we’ll see.
Rhea Ripley destroyed Natalya in seconds to retain the WWE SmackDown Women’s title. There’s not much to say about this as my best guess is a longer rematch, either on TV or the next pay-per-view.
Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus had their first-ever match….and it was good! Stratus can still have a good match at this point in her career and it helps a lot that she had this match with Lynch. The finish saw Stratus win after Zoey Stark attacked Lynch, allowing Stratus to hit the Stratusfaction. So, there’s clearly an alliance there and this feud must continue, which seems to the the theme from this show. We’ll likely see the blowoff at SummerSlam as the rumors had it a month or so ago.
WWE Intercontinental Gunther defeated Mustafa Ali. That was a given and for what they were given, it was fine. To me, it’s just weird WWE has a lot of these matches where someone lucks into a title match, then they go out of their way to tell you that these people have no chance of winning. They did it last month with Zelina Vega and now this. This was fine, but not to the level of recent high-profile Gunther matches.
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These shows are always going to be against the backdrop of WWE working with a country with flagrant human rights abuses that many people seem to look the other way on because of money and sports. It’s kinda hard to ignore when during every other segment, Michael Cole put over the rich history of Jeddah, which if you didn’t know, is also a modern cosmopolitan city. I do know this now because it was mentioned multiple times throughout this show.
Keep in mind this was the same country that tortured and imprisoned women as recently as 2018 for driving, and women wrestlers were not allowed to appear on the shows until two years into their deal. Not exactly cosmopolitan.
With that said, the wrestling on the show was good, even great at times, and the crowd was generally hot for everything at all the right moments. WWE television is middling at most, but to their credit their premium live events, or whatever you want to call them, have usually delivered, as was the case with Night of Champions.
In the main event of the episode, Jimmy & Jey Uso lost to the LWO’s Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar. Escobar pinned Jimmy to get the victory with help from Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn.
Owens & Zayn were out for revenge after being attacked by The Usos earlier in the show. The Usos were going for a double splash when Owens made his way out to cause a distraction. That allowed Escobar to take out Jey Uso. With the referee’s attention turned away, Zayn pushed Jimmy off the top rope. Mysterio hit a 619 and Escobar followed with a splash to get the win.
Roman Reigns was shown looking upset with The Usos after their loss.
Reigns also berated The Usos earlier in the night for getting involved in a face-to-face segment between Owens & Zayn and Reigns & Solo Sikoa. While Reigns was cutting a promo on Zayn, The Usos launched a sneak attack on the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. Reigns was angry that The Usos ruined his plan. There was then a moment where Reigns accidentally bumped into Sikoa as he was leaving the ring.
Reigns & Sikoa are challenging Owens & Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles at Night of Champions on Saturday, May 27. Before the pay-per-view, there will be a KO Show segment with Reigns & Sikoa on SmackDown next Friday.
Seeds are being planted for what could come for Roman Reigns down the line.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed the upcoming match with Reigns & Solo Sikoa taking on Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens for the Undisputed Tag Team titles at Night of Champions on May 27. Meltzer said one of the finishes for the tag title match could eventually build to a Reigns/Sikoa match.
“I think Roman and Solo is something they are building towards,” Meltzer said. “Not anytime soon.”
Alvarez suggested other matches could happen down the line as well, including the Usos feuding with Reigns.
Meltzer said that if Reigns and Sikoa are not walking away the winners in Saudi Arabia, then it has to be Reigns who is pinned, possibly by Zayn. However, Meltzer said that Zayn isn’t as over as he was just a few months ago.
“Sami is definitely past his peak from February,” Meltzer said.
Later in the clip, Meltzer and Alvarez recap a Seth Rollins promo where it was teased that next week he would talk about Roman Reigns. From what it sounded like, a future Rollins/Reigns match could also happen down the line.
“It sure sounds like that’s another match they’re going to do.” Meltzer said.
The Usos will face Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar of the LWO on next week’s WWE SmackDown.
After receiving a verbal put-down from Roman Reigns on this week’s episode, WWE revealed that Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso will look to rebound on next week’s show as they face Mysterio & Escobar of the LWO.
Following up on this week’s announcement that Reigns & Solo Sikoa will challenge Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn for the Undisputed Tag Team titles at Night of Champions, Reigns & Sikoa will have a face-to-face segment with Owens & Zayn on next week’s SmackDown.
After being called up from NXT in the recent WWE Draft, Pretty Deadly’s Elton Prince & Kit Wilson will make their SmackDown in-ring debut on next week’s episode against Butch & Ridge Holland of The Brawling Brutes.
Another new SmackDown star in Grayson Waller will bring his Grayson Waller Effect talk show segment to the show next week, with AJ Styles as his guest. Styles defeated Bobby Lashley in a World Heavyweight Championship tournament semifinal bout in the main event of this week’s episode.
The lineup for next week:
WWE SmackDown, Friday, May 19 —
The Usos vs. The LWO’s Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar
Pretty Deadly’s Elton Prince & Kit Wilson vs. The Brawling Brutes’ Ridge Holland & Butch
The Bloodline’s Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa face-to-face with Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
It’s Wrestling Observer Live Saturday with Jim Valley.
On Smackdown, The Usos interfere in a match – AGAIN! Like death, taxes, and Groundhog Day, The Usos interfering in a match seems inevitable these days.
With the draft coming next week, how can any new talent move up when there’s no path to upward mobility. That’s why Roman Reigns needs to lose at least one title in the near future, as it will create more feuds and new matches.
How much more wrestling programming will media executives want? If AEW Collision isn’t a hit, will it affect the whole industry? Plus talk on the AEW pillars, Stardom, Steve Maclin, and more. Check it out.
A rematch of the main event of night one of WrestleMania 39 is set for the April 28 WWE SmackDown.
As announced on this week’s episode, Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens will defend the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against The Usos on next week’s SmackDown.
The Usos addressed the match in a promo on Friday’s show, promising to bring gold back to The Bloodline. Zayn and Owens defeated The Usos on night one of WrestleMania 39 to win the Undisputed Tag titles.
Next week’s SmackDown also kicks off the 2023 WWE Draft, which begins next Friday, April 28, then continues on the Monday, May 1 edition of Raw.
The Usos and Solo Sikoa vs. Zayn, Owens, and Matt Riddle has been announced for WWE Backlash on Saturday, May 6. Sikoa defeated Riddle in a no DQ match on Friday’s SmackDown in the show’s main event.
Next week’s SmackDown lineup:
WWE SmackDown, Friday, April 28 —
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship: Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens defend against The Usos
Denise Salcedo returns on this FRIYAY night for another episode of Speak Now Pro Wrestling! Today she runs down the April 14, 2023 edition of WWE Smackdown!
WWE has revealed the date for the Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens vs. The Usos Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship rematch.
As announced by Paul Heyman prior to the main event on Friday’s SmackDown episode, Zayn & Owens will defend the Undisputed Tag titles against The Usos on the Friday, April 28 WWE SmackDown show, the same night that the 2023 WWE Draft will begin.
Zayn & Owens defeated The Usos on night one of WrestleMania 39 to capture the Undisputed Tag Team titles. The Usos held the SmackDown Tag Team titles for 622 days, and unified those belts with the Raw Tag Team titles in May 2022. The Usos Undisputed reign lasted a total of 316 days.
The rematch will be the first title defense for Zayn & Owens since winning the Undisputed Tag titles.
The storyline between Zayn & Owens and The Bloodline continued on Friday’s SmackDown show, with Matt Riddle further cementing his alliance with Zayn & Owens. Riddle faced The Bloodline’s Solo Sikoa in the main event of Friday’s show in a losing effort.
Two title matches are set for next week’s SmackDown.
Xavier Woods will get a shot at Gunther’s Intercontinental title. After he defeated LA Knight on Friday’s SmackDown, Woods confronted Gunther backstage by playing his trombone in front of Imperium. The two eventually agreed to a title match for next week’s show.
Liv Morgan and Raquel Gonzalez will have their first WWE Women’s Tag Team title defense on next week’s SmackDown when they take on Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green. Morgan and Gonzalez were celebrating their title victory when Green and Deville came out, laying claim to a future title match.
A third match will see The Viking Raiders take on Strowman and Ricochet. Strowman and Ricochet were walking backstage when they were jumped by the Raiders. The Vikings used a steel beam to wipe out Strowman, then took out Ricochet with a double powerbomb through a table.
Here is what has been announced so far for next week’s SmackDown:
WWE Women’s Tag Team titles: Liv Morgan & Raquel Gonzalez (c) vs. Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green
WWE Intercontinental title: Gunther (c) vs. Xavier Woods
The Viking Raiders vs. Braun Strowman and Ricochet
