WWE SmackDown Notes: USA Network Return, New Intro Song, Randy Orton Revealed as Owens’ Mystery Tag Partner, WWE Women’s Title and Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. The Bloodline Matches Set for Bad Blood 2024

Sep 13, 2024

WWE SmackDown Makes Official Return to USA Network

Friday’s WWE SmackDown show in Seattle, Washington was notable for being both SmackDown’s season premiere and official return to USA Network.

This was SmackDown’s first show on USA Network since September of 2019. SmackDown’s tenure on FOX officially ended with last week’s show following the expiration of WWE’s television contract with the network.

New Intro Song for SmackDown Debuts on Friday’s WWE SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE SmackDown season premiere show featured WWE debuting a new intro song for SmackDown for its official return to USA Network.

This new song was announced to be “Neva Play” by Megan Thee Stallion featuring RM of BTS.

Friday Night #SmackDown‘s new 🔥 intro!

🎶: “Neva Play (feat. RM of BTS)”

🎤: @theestallion pic.twitter.com/eJeUMgY6zU
— WWE (@WWE) September 14, 2024

Besides the new intro song, a new logo for SmackDown was also officially unveiled during the show.

The official new logo for #SmackDown.

Like or Dislike? pic.twitter.com/MWmOkrX3Xw
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) September 14, 2024

Roman Reigns Makes Surprise Return on Friday’s SmackDown Show,

Friday’s WWE SmackDown season premiere show also featured Roman Reigns making his surprise return to SmackDown.

Following Cody Rhodes’ victory over Solo Sikoa in a Steel Cage match to retain his Undisputed WWE Championship, The Bloodline ran out and managed to get into the ring. This led to The Bloodline attacking a helpless Rhodes for some time.

The Bloodline’s attack was interrupted by Reigns’ music and made his way to the ring. Reigns and The Bloodline brawled leading to Reigns managing to lay out Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Tonga Loa and attempted to hit a spear to Sikoa before Jacob Fatu pulled Sikoa out of the cage. Reigns then asked Fatu to get back into the ring which Fatu teased of doing so by going up the steps only to then shut the cage door and went back to Sikoa. This led to Reigns and Rhodes laying out Tonga and Loa as Sikoa and Fatu looked on.

Randy Orton Makes Surprise Appearance on Friday’s WWE SmackDown Show

Friday’s WWE Smackdown season premiere show also featured Randy Orton making a surprise appearance.

During the show, A-Town Down Under came out to the ring for their tag team match against Kevin Owens and a mystery partner. Owens came out next and revealed that his mystery partner was some random wrestler named Ricky.

Before the match could start, a WWE crew member informed Owens that the person he had been waiting for finally arrived and was backstage ready to come out. This led to Owens grabbing a microphone and told Ricky that he no longer needed him since his real partner finally showed up. Owens proceeded to hit a Stunner on Ricky laying him out leading to Orton coming out afterwards revealing himself as Owens’ actual tag partner.

Two New Matches Announced for WWE Bad Blood 2024

Friday’s WWE SmackDown season premiere show also featured two new matches announced for the card of WWE Bad Blood 2024, which takes place on October 5th at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

The first new match announced was a WWE Women’s Championship match of Bayley or Naomi vs. Nia Jax (c).

This match was setup following an in-ring promo segment involving Jax, Bayley, Naomi, and Tiffany Stratton. During the show, Jax came out to the ring and revealed that she will be defending her WWE Women’s title at Bad Blood 2024. This led to Bayley coming out and stated that she wanted a rematch for the title and would invoke her rematch clause. This led to Stratton coming out to interrupt and after some banter between Jax, Bayley, and Stratton, Naomi came out to the ring and demanded a title shot. Jax responded stating that she would be willing to give either of them a shot at her title but on teh condition of they team up together and face herself and Stratton next week in a tag team match. Jax stated that whoever pinned herself or Stratton would get the title shot but if they lost, whoever got pinned would have to leave SmackDown forever.

The second new match announced was a tag team match of Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu).

This match was setup following Sikoa issuing a challenge to Rhodes & Reigns for a tag team match at Bad Blood 2024 and SmackDown General Manager having a match contract already prepared. In a follow-up segment, Aldis revealed that he got the signatures from Sikoa, Fatu, and Reigns but was just waiting for Rhodes’ signature to make it official. This led to Rhodes confronting Aldis and stated that he was done with The Bloodline and wanted nothing to do with them anymore. In another follow-up segment, Reigns came out to the ting to address the situation and stated that he didn’t need a match contract nor a tag partner since this was a family matter to be taken care of. This led to Rhodes coming out and after some words, Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa attempted to ambush attack Reigns & Rhodes while they were distracted by Sikoa & Fatu on the stage. This led to Tonga & Loa getting quickly laid out instead and Reigns handing the match contract to Rhodes who signed it to make the match official.

Current card for WWE Bad Blood 2024: