WWE SmackDown Notes: Results, LA Knight & AJ Styles Advance in #1 Contender WWE Title Tourn., Jimmy Uso Gets Kicked Out of Bloodline & Tama Tonga Debuts, Women’s Title Match Set, Piper Niven Returns

WWE SmackDown Results – April 12, 2024

April 12, 2024
Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Commentary – Corey Graves and Wade Barrett

Quick Match Results

  1. Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender Tournament Triple Threat match – LA Knight defeated Santos Escobar and Bobby Lashley via BFT (pinfall)
    • Near the end of the match, Legado Del Fantasma’s Angel & Berto went into the ring and attacked Knight. This led to the Street Profits running out and a brawling breaking out that later led to Electrka Lopez and B-Fab joining in. After some more action, Escobar dodged a spear attempt by Lashley sending him into the post resulting in Knight catching Escobar in a BFT for the pinfall victory.
  2. Bron Breakker defeated Cameron Grimes via Spear (pinfall)
  3. Naomi defeated Tiffany Stratton via Jackknife Pin (pinfall)
  4. Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill defeated Piper Niven & Chelsea Green via Jaded (pinfall)
    • Cargill pinned Green after hitting the Jaded to give her team teh victory.
  5. Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender Tournament Triple Threat match – AJ Styles defeated Rey Mysterio and Kevin Owens via Avalanche Styles Clash (pinfall)
    • Styles pinned Mysterio after hitting an Avalanche Styles Clash to Mysterio onto Owens.
    • Following the match, LA Knight came out to the ring and confronting Styles leading to teh two arguing as the show went to a close.

LA Knight & AJ Styles Advance in Undisputed WWE Title #1 Contender Tournament at Friday’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s SmackDown show featured LA Knight and AJ Styles advancing in an Undisputed WWE Championship #1 Contender tournament.

Prior to the start of the show, SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis announced that two triple threat matches would be taking place on tonight’s show and the winners to advance to the finals next week. Aldis also announced that the winner of this tournament would officially challenge Cody Rhodes for his Undisputed WWE title.

The first tournament match was LA Knight defeating Santos Escobar and Bobby Lashley.

The second tournament match was Styles defeating Rey Mysterio and Kevin Owens.

As a result of their victories, LA Knight and Styles will be facing off against each other at next week’s show on April 19th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with the winner to earn a shot at Rhodes’ Undisputed WWE title.


Solol Sikoa Kicks Jimmy Uso Out of Bloodline & Tama Tonga Makes WWE Debut as Newest Bloodline Member

Friday’s SmackDown show also featured Solo Sikoa taking over the Bloodline and kicking out Jimmy Uso in the process.

During the show, The Bloodline came out to the ring albeit without Roman Reigns who was absent from the show. Paul Heyman grabbed a microphone and talked about the Bloodline having no excuses over Reigns’ loss at WrestleMania 40 nor do they blame John Cena, The Undertaker, or Jey Uso over it. After some more words talking about accontability and Rhodes flipping the script, Heyman stated that “like a phoenix, rising through the ashes …” but before he could finish, Sikoa interrupted him and stated that winning and losing matters and there are consequences to losing.

Sikoa went up to Jimmy Uso’s face and gave him a hug. Sikoa told Uso that he is his brother and he loves him and walked away. This led to a mysterious hooded person running into the ring and attacking Uso from behind. This mysterious person revealed himself to be former NJPW talent Tama Tonga. This led to a shocked reaction from Heyman and Sikoa joining in on the attack delivering a series of Samoan Spikes. Heyman attempted to call Reigns over what was happening only for Sikoa to snatch the phone away and threww it onto the mat and stomped on it. Tonga grabbed a chair and placed it around Uso’s neck in the corner. Sikoa went up to Uso and stated that he still loves him and proceeded to hit a running hip attack to Uso.

Sikoa and Tonga left the ring waiting for Heyman to do the same, which he did while in disbelief over what just happened.

In a follow-up segment, SmackDown backstage interviewer Kayla Braxton was standing outside of the doctor. Heyman came out of the room and was asked if Jimmy was okay leading to Heyman shaking his head. Tonga then showed up and told Heyman “by orders of the Tribal Chief” which led to Solo going right up to Heyman’s face and looked at his thumb before laughing and leaving away. Heyman then blurted out asking what that meant.


Naomi Earns Shot at WWE Women’s Title at Friday’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s SmackDown show also featured Naomi earning a future shot at the WWE Women’s Championship.

This was setup following an in-ring promo segment between Tiffany Stratton, Naomi, and WWE Women’s Champion Bayley.

During the show, Bayley came out to the ring and gave a promo about her defeating IYO SKY at WrestleMania 40 to win the WWE Women’s title. Bayley stated that this title victory felt the most special and thanked the fans for their support on making it feel that way.

After some more words, Bayley was interrupted by Stratton’s music and Stratton made her way to the ring. After some back and forth banter, Stratton issued a challange for Bayley’s title. This led to Naomi’s music interrupting and Naomi coming out to the ring. Naomi talked about her past victory over Stratton and how she is trying her on the wrong night. Naomi claimed that she has earned everything she has gotten in WWE and does not plan on stopping. Naomi then told Bayley to hold off on accepting Stratton’s challenge because she wants to take on “clueless Tiffany” right now.

This match resulted in Naomi defeating Stratton and it being confirmed afterwards that Naomi will be facing off against Bayley for the WWE Women’s title at next week’s show on April 19th in Pittsburgh.


Piper Niven Makes Return from Injury at Friday’s SmackDown Show

Friday’s SmackDown show also featured Piper Niven making her official in-ring return from injury.

During the show, Niven came alongside Chelsea Green for their tag team match against Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair, which was won by Cargill & Belair.

This was Niven’s first appearance since this past February due to a broken hand injury.