WWE went up against tough competition on Friday night when airing SmackDown due to the NBA and NHL playoffs, so they loaded up the show.
It featured the return of Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns to WWE TV, his first appearance since the post-WrestleMania episode of Raw. This is where WWE confirmed that Reigns and Solo Sikoa will challenge Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens at Night of Champions on May 27 in Saudi Arabia.
Also, the show opened with the two World Heavyweight Championship Tournament triple threat matches, with the first seeing AJ Styles go over Edge and Rey Mysterio while the second bout saw Bobby Lashley defeat Sheamus and US Champion Austin Theory. The headliner featured Styles going over Lashley in the semi-finals to advance to the finals at Night of Champions where he will meet Seth Rollins to determine the new World Champion.
WWE did something different to open the show as they went straight to the first three-way bout and only aired the entrance of Edge, nixing the entrances of Styles and Mysterio.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select reported that these entrances were instead shared on social media a few minutes before the show went live to “serve as an active reminder that the show was starting.”
WWE hasn’t done this in the past, so perhaps this new strategy will increase the ratings for the start of the show.
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