Due to the NBA and NHL playoffs, WWE faced stiff competition on Friday night when airing SmackDown, so they packed the show.
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns made his first appearance on WWE TV since the RAW episode following WrestleMania. Reigns and Solo Sikoa will face Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens at Night of Champions on May 27 in Saudi Arabia.
The two World Heavyweight Championship Tournament triple threat matches also kicked off the program. In the first one, AJ Styles defeated Edge and Rey Mysterio, while Bobby Lashley defeated Sheamus and US Champion Austin Theory in the latter. In the main event, Styles defeated Lashley to advance to the Night of Champions finals, where he will face Seth Rollins to crown a new world champion.
The opening of the show by WWE was different in that they skipped the entrances of Styles and Mysterio and went straight to the first three-way match.
Instead, these entrances were shared on social media a few minutes before the show went live. According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select this was to “serve as an active reminder that the show was starting.”
WWE hasn’t done this before, so maybe this fresh approach will boost the show’s opening ratings.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
