 Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Brawled with Kevin Owens and Saved Jimmy Uso From Jacob Fatu and Tama TongaThe segment started with Paul Heyman announcing that Roman Reigns is now focused on becoming champion again and intends to do so by first winning the men's Royal Rumble match, which he is officially confirmed for. The rest of the segment was well done with Rhodes furthering his feud with Owens while simultaneously setting up the tag team main event. For what it's worth, Fatu and Tonga weren't referred to as The Bloodline after Roman Reigns beat Solo Sikoa in Tribal Combat on Monday's Raw. Women's United States Champion Chelsea Green def. MichinMichin has been looking for a rematch for the Women's United States Championship since Saturday Night's Main Event a month ago, so I'm surprised this was given away on SmackDown without any advance notice. This was decent, but it was no different than their other encounters. Michin was again distracted by Piper Niven at ringside and that was why she lost, so the finish was unoriginal. Please don't tell me that Niven attacking Michin afterward means this feud is going to continue. Los Garza def. Pretty DeadlyPretty Deadly blamed The Street Profits getting attacked backstage on Los Garza a few weeks ago, so that's why this match happened. The problem is that both teams are heel, so the crowd didn't really have an incentive to cheer for one team over the other. I'm glad these guys are getting more television time now that SmackDown is three hours, but WWE has to make more of an effort to get them over and make these matches matter. LA Knight def. United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura by DisqualificationKnight kicked Fatu out of the building right after the opening segment, so that pretty much gave away the ending here. The match itself was solid, but the title never truly felt in jeopardy as a result. The disqualification was disappointing, but I'm curious if Knight will pursue another opportunity at the title or if he'll transition into a feud with Fatu and Tonga. Personally, I'm not all that interested in Knight being involved with The Bloodline (or whatever they're going by now) again. The Motor City Machine Guns def. A-Town Down UnderNick Aldis told the Guns, A-Town Down Under, Los Garza and Pretty Deadly that if they want a crack at the WWE Tag Team Championship, they have to prove themselves. Los Garza did that with their win over Pretty Deadly and the Guns bounced back with a win as well. This was a very good match from these two talented teams and I appreciated that they received an ample amount of time. I'm convinced A-Town Down Under are never splitting up at this point, and even if it does happen, few fans will care. Nia Jax, Bayley, Naomi and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Bianca Belair Confronted Tiffany Stratton; Bayley def. Naomi, Belair and Jax in a WWE Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-Way MatchStratton's championship celebration was fine, but I was honestly expecting more. It didn't help that it wasn't made clear whether Stratton is supposed to be a babyface or a heel following last week's Money in the Bank, but I assume that's intentional, especially since she'll be defending against Bayley (a babyface) on next week's SmackDown. Impromptu matches are going to become the norm now that SmackDown is three hours, and to their credit, they made the most of the time they had. This was a fun four-way that went for a while. Jacob Fatu and Tama Tonga def. Jimmy Uso and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody RhodesI know they're technically not The Bloodline anymore, but I'm so sick of Rhodes working against them. Same with Jimmy. The problem is, SmackDown's current roster is such that I can't see them completely avoiding each other either unless some of them get shifted over to Raw. This was a standard tag team main event and Owens brawling with Rhodes to the back allowed the heels to pick up the victory. Surely Sikoa is getting betrayed by Fatu and Tonga next week, right? Overall ShowWWE did well with last week's first three-hour edition of SmackDown and the three hours didn't drag as much as I originally anticipated, but the three-hour format was definitely more tedious this week. This "transfer window" has been a failure so far because only Braun Strowman has switched shows and SmackDown hasn't benefited whatsoever. Even with two title matches, this edition of SmackDown was fairly uneventful. If you didn't tune in, you missed very little. You don't want any episode to feel like that as we approach the Rumble and soon WrestleMania season.
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