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WWE SmackDown Recap 9/23: Roman Reigns Honors Sami Zayn

One of the most entertaining ongoing stories on WWE SmackDown over the past couple of months has been Sami Zayn's evolving relationship with The Bloodline.  What started out as a cowardly skin-saving move on Zayn's part has turned into him thinking he's a welcomed member of the family.  All is not well, though, and there has been some drama between Zayn and official members The Usos and Paul Heyman as of late.  With "The Head of the Table" Roman Reigns returning live and in person last night, did he set everyone straight, or is Zayn now on the outs?  Let's take a look at what went down on SmackDown on FOX last night.

WWE SmackDown kicked off with The Bloodline hitting the ring and Paul Heyman speaking about how Solo Sikoa is there as an enforcer to protect them all, which allows his brothers, The Usos, to continue to pursue immortality.  This led to Roman Reigns calling Sikoa forward and making it clear that he answers to him, before demanding he acknowledge him, which Sikoa wasted no time doing.

Reigns then hugged his cousin, and as the team was about to exit, Sami Zayn grabbed the mic and expressed his gratitude to them.  Reigns then told him to take his Bloodline shirt off, and as Zayn tried pleading with Reigns, Jey Uso ripped Zayn's shirt off.  It appeared as if Reigns was about to boot him from the team when he told Zayn he doesn't want to see him in that shirt ever again, but then Reigns tossed him a new shirt reading "Honorary Uce," much to the delight of Zayn and the disdain of Jey Uso.  A SmackDown swerve!

This was a solid segment to open SmackDown, as not only were all the performers killing it on the mic here, but it had some good character work to either show a rift between Jey and the rest of the team growing and/or putting Zayn in a similar role to Mankind with Vince McMahon in late 1998, where Vince made Mankind believe he was a welcome member of his team and his chosen Champion, only to betray him and thus, create one of the most genuinely beloved babyfaces in wrestling history.  I could definitely see them going that way with Zayn here, and he fits that role pretty perfectly.

In some WWE SmackDown match results:

Liv Morgan def. Lacey Evans

The New Day def. Maximum Male Models

Braun Strowman def. Otis

Raquel Rodriguez def. Dakota Kai

The Usos def. Brawling Brutes

And in some non-match segments on last night's WWE SmackDown:

Solo Sikoa helps Sami Zayn as WWE reflects on The Usos' dominance

Los Lotharios initiates an altercation with Hit Row

Drew McIntyre blindsided by Scarlet and Karrion Kross

And that's that for last night's WWE SmackDown on FOX, and it wasn't bad overall.  They did some decent character and story work, and they even set up some matches for Extreme Rules in a couple of weeks.  Plus, the matches were pretty good, so not much to complain about here.

Till next time friends.

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