WWE SmackDown 6/7/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Posted by admin on June 8th, 2024

On Friday’s episode of “WWE SmackDown”, Kevin Owens and The Street Profits took on Solo Sikoa’s new Bloodline in an intense six-man tag team match. Regardless of how you feel about the finish and this new iteration of Pacific Islander dominance, this match accomplished far more than any three-count can convey.

Before anything, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford deserve their flowers. Sure, they might have been the subject of Bloodline ire last week, but they kind of felt like the odd ones out coming into Friday’s match-up — they felt like just some guys to stand by Owens to make this a somewhat fair fight. For what they lacked in long-term storyline relevance, however, they more than made up for in in-ring spectacle. Dawkins has improved so much in the ring, and he is giving Bron Brekker reason to sweat with how well he runs those ropes into that corkscrew punch. Ford is one of the most underrated wrestlers on the roster, and when everyone was fighting on the outside, I was just waiting to see him soar through the heavens and into a pile of bodies. Dawkins and Ford’s performances offered the perfect hook to the deeper story that this match is trying to tell.

We have to talk about Sikoa and The Bloodline during the closing moments of the show. Whether you love this new gang of Samoan intimidators or can’t stand them (trust me, I’m in the latter camp), the narrative impact of this closing segment overshadows any personal biases against or for them. This entire time, Sikoa has been poised to be the next Roman Reigns — he has been heralded as the next Tribal Chief. However, with his Samoan Spikes and war cries, he didn’t have the sophisticated malice that Reigns had. He looked like a little kid running around in suits that didn’t fit him, and a bunch of red shirts that were sourced from a Goodwill bin.

Friday night, however, there was a definitive shift in Sikoa’s persona. A wrestler’s moveset is one of the key ways they communicate their character — Nia Jax’s slow but deliberate offense helps establish her as a powerhouse threat, and Cody Rhodes’ combination of old-school punches and new-school springboard moves add to his image as a new installation of an old dynasty. This is especially true for signatures and finishers: Liv Morgan’s Oblivion contributes to her character as a conniving risk-taker, and Chad Gable’s Chaos Theory imparts images and sensations of Olympic mat work. So, when Sikoa deliberately traded in his Samoan Spike for a spear on Montez Ford, the indication is very clear: he is shedding his past as Sikoa “The Enforcer”, and assuming Reigns’ character through his moveset.

The connection between moveset and character also extends to tag teams, and are perhaps even more salient to tag teams than singles competitors. The Usos (miss you, Jimmy) and 1D, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart’s Hart Attack — when we see these finishers being performed, we can easily recognize and identify them. So, it should not be lost on the astute or seasoned WWE viewer that Sikoa and MTF (Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa) performed the triple powerbomb most popularly associated with The Shield, yet another faction that Reigns was heavily involved in. With this triple powerbomb spot, Sikoa not only assumes Reigns as he was during “The Tribal Chief” era, but Reigns as he was during his most formative years on the main roster, as a member of The Shield. Sikoa is not just taking over the mantle of “The Tribal Chief”, he is taking over Reigns’ entire history and personality.

The assimilation is done. The transformation is complete. Sikoa has been anointed as the new Reigns on a far more intrinsic level than any opening segment can convey. He has changed who he is, fundamentally, in order to be more like Reigns. If there was any doubt that Sikoa would be a true, genuine, new “Tribal Chief”, than this complete acceptance of himself as Reigns would do well to dash any skepticism.

There is something especially beautiful about pairing this complete transition with a disqualification finish. With disqualifications, there is so much opportunity to continue the story. Nobody was pinned, nobody tapped out — the disqualification finish robs the audience of a cathartic ending to a match, and a definitive winner. The disqualification ending is absolutely a jumping-off point for an even deeper feud, and it is the “unfinished” nature of this finish that makes it the most contrastive pairing to the definitive transition of Sikoa from “Enforcer” to “Tribal Chief”. Friday’s events were the epitome of the two opposites of the spectrum: one’s metamorphosis was completed, and another’s journey was prolonged because of an inconclusive ending. Through their contrasting properties, they highlight each other, like how the deepest valleys make their neighbor mountains look even taller. There is also a linear quality to this — because this match was inconclusive, Sikoa has room to launch his new persona as the completed, metamorphosed “Tribal Chief.”

Sure, The Bloodline may be tired, corny, and played out. Regardless of your fatigue for this family-based faction, however, this much is true: there was so much narrative work being done with the finish of Friday’s show, and we are privileged to watch wrestling that begs us to dig deeper into its narrative.

Written by Angeline Phu