SmackDown returned to the USA Network yesterday evening for its season premiere; with that came a new look and huge main event match to open the show as Cody Rhodes defended his Undisputed WWE Championship against Solo Sikoa inside a Steel Cage.
In what proved to be perhaps Sikoa's best singles match in WWE, the American Nightmare retained his title after delivering a third and final Cross Rhodes.
Of course, it took no time at all for the rest of The Bloodline to get involved and Rhodes soon found himself outnumbered by Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa.
That prompted Roman Reigns to make his way to the ring, with the OTC laying waste to Tonga and Loa before Solo intervened and stopped Fatu from going one-on-one with the former champion. As you can probably imagine, Rhodes didn't look particularly grateful for the save.
Later in the show, it was revealed that Sikoa and Fatu had signed a contract for a tag team match against Rhodes and Reigns at Bad Blood. Cody made it clear he wanted nothing to do with the match and said he was done with The Bloodline, leaving Roman to fend for himself.
In the main event segment, Reigns finally broke his silence on recent developments and, despite being embraced by fans as a babyface, it soon became clear that he's still the same Superstar we saw at WrestleMania.
Declaring himself the true Tribal Chief, he said WWE belongs to him, prompting Rhodes to hit the ring and remind him that he's the champion now. Tensions continued to rise before Solo and Fatu appeared as a distraction to allow Tonga and Loa to make a sneak attack.
Reigns and Rhodes triumphed, with the latter signing the contract, creating a new Mega Powers-like tag team we can't wait to see in action...even if they hate each other!
Check out some highlights from SmackDown below.