SmackDown Results: Tama Tonga Debuts, Takes Out Jimmy Uso with Sikoa

April 12, 2024 John Kleinchester NEWS, Show Reports
Photo Courtesy: WWE

April 12, 2024
Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI

By: John Kleinchester

 

A New Chapter of the Story Begins

The first post-WrestleMania Smackdown kicked off with the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes coming down to the ring to a massive pop. Rhodes said that he was talking last Monday and was interrupted by The Rock. He said he would wait for The Rock’s return from Hollywood.

Rhodes then shifted his focus to Backlash as he will face either Santos Escobar, Rey Mysterio, LA Knight, AJ Styles, Bobby Lashley, or Kevin Owens. He said that he is no longer the hunter but the hunted and if you come at the king, you must not miss. 

(The Remnants of) The Bloodline

Backstage, Solo Sikoa, Jimmy Uso, and Paul Heyman found Cody Rhodes’ locker room as Kevin Owens was entering it. Sikoa said he would take care of it but Heyman said that the Tribal Chief ordered that they bring the title back to The Bloodline. 

Triple Threat #1 of 2

The first match of the evening was LA Knight taking on both Santos Escobar and Bobby Lashley in a triple threat match with the winner moving on to the #1 Contender’s match for the Championship. Before the match began, a picture-in-picture interview with Escobar was shown in which he said that they didn’t attack Dragon Lee last week. 

LA Knight seemingly had Escobar dead to right when Angel and Berto came out of nowhere to help Santos triple powerbomb Knight. Lashley then tried to fight off the three heels but was beaten down himself. This brought out The Street Profits who took out Angel and Berto as commentary reminded us there were no DQs in a triple-threat match. Elektra Lopez then got in the ring prompting B-Fab to take her out. In all of the chaos, Lashley missed a spear on Escobar but Knight caught Santos with a BFT for the victory. 

 

LWO

Rey Mysterio and LWO were interviewed in the back and Kayla Braxton revealed that Santos said they didn’t attack Dragon Lee. The LWO laughed at the concept and Rey said he’s focused on his triple-threat match with AJ Styles and Kevin Owens. Mysterio said he fully believed he had one more run as WWE Champion in him.

Tama Tonga Debuts

Paul Heyman, Solo Sikoa, and Jimmy Uso came down to the ring and Heyman said they don’t blame John Cena, The Undertaker, or Jey Uso for what happened at WrestleMania and “accountability” is an important word to them. Heyman said that Seth Rollins’ betrayal of the Shield distracted Reigns while Cody Rhodes was focused and ready. Sikoa stopped Heyman saying that
“consequences mean change” and pushed Heyman aside, staring down Jimmy Uso.

https://twitter.com/WWEonFOX/status/1778947750073094507

Solo hugged Jimmy saying “You’re my brother, I love you” before turning away. Suddenly, a hooded figure jumped Uso and it was revealed to be Tama Tonga who the announcers noted was the son of Haku. Solo then hit the Samoan Spike on Jimmy as Tonga put the “one” in the air. Heyman then went to call Reigns but Sikoa pulled his phone away from him and stomped on it. Tonga then got a chair as Sikoa splashed a prone Jimmy Uso in the corner with it. 

 

Bron Breakker 

Next up was Bron Breakker taking on Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal participant Cameron Grimes. Breakker won in under 90 seconds with a spear. 

AJ Styles Promo

An AJ Styles promo package aired where he said he was going to fix the wrongs of WrestleMania and he would destroy Kevin Owens and Rey Mysterio and he would go on to beat LA Knight next week. 

 

Bayley, Tiffy, and Naomi (and more Bloodline)

Next, the new WWE Women’s Champion Bayley came to the ring and thanked the fans for never giving up on her. Tiffany Stratton interrupted saying it was rude that she didn’t get an opportunity at WrestleMania.

Stratton accepted what she thought was Bayley’s open challenge but Bayley said she already had someone in mind in Naomi. Naomi came out and said she couldn’t accept Bayley’s challenge just yet, first she had to take on Stratton. 

As we returned from break, Kayla Braxton was standing outside the trainer’s room as Paul Heyman exited as Tama Tonga approached saying “By orders of the Tribal Chief” as Solo brandished his thumb. Heyman wondered “What the hell does that mean?”.

Meanwhile, we returned to the ring where Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton had already begun. Stratton was impressive with her performance but Naomi picked up the win and will go on to face Bayley next week.

A-Town Down Under Promo

Now officially known as A-Town Down Under, a promo package aired featuring Grayson Waller & Austin Theory. We panned back from a television airing the promo to find New Catch Republic and The Street Profits with Nick Aldis who said “We’ll find them a challenger next week”. 

 

Logan Paul

A Logan Paul selfie promo aired bragging about his win at WrestleMania. 

 

Raw Redux

A backstage video from earlier in the day saw Green & Niven telling Nick Aldis that they wanted to be drafted to SmackDown so they wouldn’t be treated like they were by Adam Pearce, being thrown to Jade Cargill. The pair came to the ring and of course, Jade Cargill was out and her partner was revealed to be Bianca Belair. Cargill hit Jaded for the win in under 90 seconds.

KO Promo

Byron Saxton interviewed Kevin Owens backstage who brought up the “cool camera shots” that have been happening the last few weeks. With that, he took the mic and started walking toward the ring stumbling on a table with a Detroit Tigers custom title belt which he picked up and then intentionally knocked a pile of CM Punk shirts off the table.

He then compared his son to Rey’s and said his son wasn’t a huge disappointment like Rey’s. He got to Gorilla and threw the mic to Jamie Noble and told Bruce to hit his music. This led directly into the second triple threat match of the evening with KO taking on Rey Mysterio and AJ Styles in a Triple Threat match. The winner here would face LA Knight next week for a title match against Cody Rhodes at Backlash. 

The finish was an incredible spot where AJ Styles caught Rey Mysterio on the top rope and put him into the Styles Clash, then landed onto a prone Kevin Owens on the canvas. After the match, LA Knight appeared and got into Styles’ face as the show went off the air. 

Announced for SmackDown Next Week in Pittsburgh:

  • WWE Women’s Championship: Bayley vs. Naomi
  • Fatal 4-Way #1 Contenders Match: Street Profits vs. New Catch Republic vs. Legado del Fantasma vs. Authors of Pain
  • WWE Championship #1 Contenders Match: LA Knight vs. AJ Styles

Friday Night SmackDown Results:

  • LA Knight over Bobby Lashley and Santos Escobar in 8:21
  • Bron Breakker over Cameron Grimes in 1:21
  • Naomi over Tiffany Stratton in 11:08 (Estimated, match began in ad break)
  • Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair over Chelsea Green & Piper Niven in 1:24
  • AJ Styles over Kevin Owens and Rey Mysterio in 9:16
About John Kleinchester 204 Articles
New Jersey born and raised. Wrestling fan since Lex slammed Yokozuna on the deck of the USS Intrepid. Favorite Wrestler of all time is Owen "The Rocket" Hart.
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