WWE SmackDown results, recap, grades: LA Knight and Roman Reigns meet, Jade Cargill and Nick Aldis debut

WWE SmackDown pulled out all the stops for its season premiere. Roman Reigns and LA Knight faced off for the first time, plus Triple H welcomed Jade Cargill and Nick Aldis to the promotion. There was a lot to unpack on a busy episode of the blue brand.

Reigns vs. Knight is the hottest world title feud that WWE can produce and they’ve officially got the ball rolling. Reigns and Knight faced off for the first time on Friday night with The Bloodline and John Cena in the backdrop.

Friday’s show also featured an undisputed tag team title match. Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso defended their recently won titles against the brash duo of Austin Theory and Grayson Waller.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Acknowledge me, yeah!

Cena kicked off SmackDown but was promptly interrupted by undisputed universal champion Reigns, special counsel Paul Heyman and Bloodline enforcer Solo Sikoa. Reigns rejected Cena’s potential status as the greatest of all time, a title “The Tribal Chief” claimed for himself. Cena acknowledged Reigns’ accomplishments and said he wasn’t here to challenge Reigns. Someone else was. Queue Knight’s music and a loud pop from the Tulsa crowd.

Knight let the live audience introduce him since Reigns has been too busy sitting at home to witness Knight’s rise to stardom. Reigns tried to downplay Knight’s success but the self-described “fastest rising star in SmackDown history” would not be denied. Jimmy Uso tried and failed to blindside Knight. A face-off between Reigns and Knight concluded with the world champion leaving the ring. Sikoa challenged Knight to a one-on-one match later in the evening.

Backstage, Uso said he called an audible in the ring attacking Knight unprompted. His actions were an attempt to draw plays from Reigns’ playbook. Uso said if he had it his way, Jey Uso would be back in The Bloodline. Reigns said Jey Uso was a lost cause and Jimmy Uso should be more focused on retrieving the tag team titles. Reigns said that every day Jey Uso is champion (an honor he shares with Cody Rhodes) is a desecration of The Bloodline’s legacy. 

Later in the evening, Triple H hit the ring to make a special announcement. Triple H thanked authority figure Adam Pearce for his thankless work running Raw and SmackDown. Triple H told Pearce he would no longer be responsible for managing both brands solo and promoted him to general manager of Raw. Triple H introduced Nick Aldis — a former TNA and NWA world heavyweight champion — as SmackDown’s new general manager. Aldis’ first course of action was finalizing a brand trade in the works since Jey Uso moved to Raw in August. Kevin Owens hit the ring as SmackDown’s newest superstar. Owen’s arrival further frustrated Reigns who was watching backstage.

Aldis continued to take decisive action as general manager. Aldis offered Charlotte Flair a WWE women’s championship match against Iyo Sky next week. Flair accepted the offer but came face-to-face with a debuting Jade Cargill on her way out.

In SmackDown’s penultimate match, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso successfully defended their undisputed tag team titles against Austin Theory and Grayson Waller. The defending champions were confronted by The Bloodline in full force post-match. Aldis got in between the two parties.

Knight def. Sikoa via pinfall after hitting Sikoa with BFT. It was a competitive back-and-forth match between the two superstars. The finishing sequence started when Jimmy Uso hit the ring. Uso tried to attack Knight, but Cena ran interference and planted Uso with an Attitude Adjustment. Sikoa took out Cena with a Samoan Spike. Knight took advantage of the chaos and planted Sikoa with BFT. Reigns laid out Knight with a spear post-match to close the show.

SmackDown continues to churn out the best overall weekly program in professional wrestling. The ball is officially rolling on Reigns vs. Knight, the hottest undisputed world title feud since Reigns vs. Jey Uso at SummerSlam. Speaking of which, WWE wisely reminded fans that Reigns and Rhodes, Jey Uso’s tag team partner, have unsettled business with their brief staredown. Jimmy Uso has been sent on a mission to retrieve the tag team titles from his twin brother. It’s an intriguing proposition having the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history face each other for the titles. The “season premiere” premise is redundant for a show that runs every week of the year, but WWE did a great job of giving SmackDown a fresh coat of blue paint with the introductions of Cargill and Aldis. Grade: A

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