SmackDown recap & reactions: France rules

Paul Heyman met with SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis in an attempt to get him to cancel the match between Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga and Randy Orton & Kevin Owens. His request was denied and while the two were bantering, Heyman mistakenly admitted to the fact that he hasn't talked to Roman Reigns since WrestleMania 40.

Which raises one question — how the hell did he pull himself out of the Draft then?

Heyman admitted to the fact that Reigns didn't pull himself, it was Heyman who made the decision to pull him because he wanted to protect him from all the chaos going on within The Bloodline. Which means that we aren't really any closer to knowing if Reigns was behind Tonga showing up to join up, or if Sikoa is acting on his own, or if Heyman himself is the odd man out of all of this.

Just what the hell is actually going on here?

Heyman was a guest on The RKO Show this week too, something Kevin Owens said he begged for all week. He was there to continue his campaign to get the match cancelled. It did not work.

Instead, it led to Orton outright asking him who the real Tribal Chief is. Heyman did not like the question, saying it put him in a bad position, but he did say everyone knows there is only one Tribal Chief.

But before he could go any further into that, Sikoa and Tonga attacked from behind. The babyfaces got the better of the brawl but we never got the answer we were looking for.

The teasing is going to continue, and it's a damn good tease.

What I also find interesting about this is that even without Reigns being around, and not even a hint of when he could be coming back, it still feels to me like this is the main event program. That's despite WWE Champion Cody Rhodes being on the show promoting a title match.

Amazing.

Speaking of Rhodes, he had yet another face-to-face confrontation with AJ Styles with another opportunity to add some depth to their feud and sell their match at Backlash.

Here's what they did with it:

Well, they basically just did more of the same. Styles called out Rhodes for packing his bags and leaving when things got tough for him in WWE and how he had a road paved for him when he came back. Meanwhile, he had to make things happen all by himself all throughout his time outside and inside the company.

Rhodes, meanwhile, had to have a bunch of Legends and Hall of Famers helping him win the title at WrestleMania. He's had everyone in his corner. AJ is a seasoned veteran when it comes to overcoming challenges without any assistance and this is just another case of needing to do so.

So he will.

Honestly, that's a much more compelling angle than the original tried-and-true method of just bringing up Dusty.

Cody's response to AJ was to simply say it's offensive to disparage his journey, because he had to go through hell to get to where he is now, despite the help he had. Rhodes hit him with a "too sweet" reference to end it, and they made like they were going to do one right there in the ring. Instead, Styles slapped him and that's how they sent us off to the match.

This was an actually compelling back-and-forth and accomplished its goal of getting me hyped for the match. Well done all around here.

All the rest

• They did an eight woman tag team match that saw Bayley, Naomi, Bianca Belair, and Jade Cargill team up to take on Damage CTRL + Tiffany Stratton. I cannot stress enough how much better this was because of the live audience being as into everything as they were, and it was made even more special by the fact that they were out first on TV. The babyfaces won the match but they did tease out Bayley and Belair having ongoing issues, which would seem to indicate they want to go back to that. Naomi, for what it's worth, consistently seems to be getting left behind as the focus in the title picture, even though she's challenging for said title.
• Bobby Lashley tried to get in with Carmelo Hayes, who was resistant because despite the defeat to Trick Williams, he's still as cocksure as ever. Lashley humbling the new kid would be an interesting and potentially fun way to get him back on the right track.
• The New Catch Republic and The Final Testament had one hell of a fun match, with Bate in particular looking outstanding flying all around out there. Ultimately, they lost because Karrion Kross and Scarlett were too much to overcome on the outside. This was a pretty good way to send these teams off to Raw next week to continue this on the red brand.
• LA Knight was over like rover on this show, just an absolutely thunderous pop for his entrance theme. It will never cease to amaze me that he still gets reactions as big as he does despite his booking. He ran over Angel in a match that made clear he's leagues above him. After, he got on the mic and declared himself for the King of the Ring tournament. Santos Escobar did the same thing. Again, it was clear as day who stands where in the pecking order watching this segment but I suppose we'll have to wait and see how things play out.
• Carlito copped to attacking Dragon Lee because he got passed over for the WrestleMania match alongside Rey Mysterio, something he badly wanted coming back to WWE after so many years away. And you know what? I kind of feel for the guy! Maybe I would have done the same thing, you know?!? Why the hell would Rey pick Dragon Lee over him? We'll see where they take this, but I'm enjoying it so far.

The live crowd alone made this show awesome.

Grade: A-

Your turn.