5 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (5 July - Results & Review)

2. Solo Sikoa Hammers Home His Intentions

The contrast between that depth of human feeling the babyfaces have and the cold, calculating nature of The Bloodline could not have been clearer. Solo Sikoa appeared in a pre-tape with his hastily-assembled faction reboot, and he laid bare The Bloodline 2.0's intentions without stuttering once.

It was clever to pre-tape this and keep it away from live crowds. Nobody needed Toronto's masses to hit Solo with the, "WHAT?!" treatment when he's revealing his hand. Sikoa said he plans to beat Cody Rhodes for the WWE Title, then Roman Reigns will have to wrestle control of everything back from him.

Excellent.

This put a button on SmackDown, and it keeps the anticipation burning away for Roman's return. It's good that Paul Heyman was reported absent on Friday after taking that fun table bump last week too. Featuring him here, even in a wheelchair (or something like that) would've been completely unnecessary.

Wrestling's best saga rolls on.