WWE SmackDown: The Usos unify Tag Team championships
By Ryan Satin
FOX Sports WWE Analyst
The Usos are WWE’s new Undisputed Tag Team champions after unifying both sets of titles this week on SmackDown.
Welcome back to another Friday Night SmackDown roundup, this time covering the May 20 edition of the show featuring a tag title unification match, Ricochet teasing a new feud and a peculiar NXT call-up.
Here’s a brief recap of the match results:
- Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Sami Zayn via pinfall after a Kinshasa
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The self-proclaimed ‘locker room leader’ Sami Zayn went to bat again for the Bloodline by going head-to-head with Shinsuke Nakamura on Friday Night SmackDown.
- Gunther defeated Drew Gulak via pinfall
- Raquel Rodriguez defeated Shotzi via pinfall
- Xavier Woods defeated Butch via "Backwoods" pinfall
- The Usos defeated RK-Bro with help from Roman Reigns to become Undisputed WWE Tag Team champions
Best match: RK-Bro vs. The Usos – Tag Team title unification match
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The Usos took on RK-Bro on Friday Night SmackDown in a historic Tag Team Unification Challenge as their cousin Roman Reigns came to their aid.
A fantastic outing from both teams that had the crowd heavily behind Riddle and Randy Orton leading into the finish.
As great as RK-Bro have been as tag team champions, Roman needed credible babyface opponents for the next two premium live events, and these are two of WWE’s most popular right now – so this was the best route to take.
I’m assuming Riddle will likely be first at Money in the Bank, followed by Randy Orton at SummerSlam, then Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle this September in the UK.
That gives Roman a full-slate this summer.
Moment of the night: The Bloodline post-match beatdown
Jey Uso doing a splash to Riddle through a table outside of the ring looked brutal.
The best part of this, though, was all the sad kids being shown after RK-Bro failed to become Undisputed Tag Team champs.
Call me a jerk if you want, but you know the competitors are all doing their jobs well when young audience members get that invested.
Additional highlights:
I’ve written here for weeks asking that Ricochet and Gunther cross paths over the Intercontinental Championship.
So, now that it's starting to happen, we can all get hyped.
Raquel Rodriguez looked strong once again this week.
From the sound of this week’s broadcast, however, they’ll likely have to come up with a new name for her finishing move since it kept getting censored throughout the match.
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Raquel Rodriquez moved on to Shotzi Blackheart after defeating Ronda Rousey on Friday Night SmackDown, making her mark on the Blue Brand.
Lingering question: Did LA Knight really need a name change?
NXT wrestler LA Knight debuted in a backstage segment with a new name and gimmick – but were the changes really necessary?
I have a hard time believing he’ll have more success using the name Max Dupri than he would have as LA Knight. The same goes for the gimmick he had been doing in NXT, against a guy who runs a modeling agency.
We’ll obviously have to wait and see how it plays out, but this doesn’t appear to be setting him up for long-term success.
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Ryan Satin is a WWE analyst for FOX Sports. Satin previously appeared on FS1's "WWE Backstage" and founded Pro Wrestling Sheet, where he broke countless news stories as editor-in-chief.