5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (3 July - Results & Review)

3. Why This Falls Flat

Royce Keys approached Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu backstage to say he’s been Jacob's “day one for 14 years”. Basically, they've been best friends even when Keys was over in AEW. Firing back and squashing that narrative, Jimmy said that wasn’t the case anymore, because they’re here to handle Bloodline family business. OK then.

This won’t resonate with fans because there’s been no visible history between Royce and Jacob. It was a surprise when Fatu said they were close friends a few months ago, and nothing much has happened between them since then. It’s all rather clumsy and unconvincing. WWE seems intent on using either real-life friendship without much context or plot points from elsewhere (Tama Tonga's fixation on his New Japan past, for example) as fuel for ongoing angles.

Fair enough, but at least dive into the lore properly and flesh things out if you expect anyone to care.

Keys and Fatu have shared screen time in a few short nothing promos, and that's it. They're the most peripheral of buddies on camera, so there's no reason for fans to invest in their relationship or view Jacob rejoining The Bloodline under Roman as some grand betrayal of Royce's trust. The writers are expecting very little to do a lot of heavy lifting here, and it isn't working.

Plus, as if that wasn't bad enough, Fatu is assuming the same largely mute role in these skits that Solo Sikoa once did. He's going backwards as a character, not forwards. Sort it out, please.