6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SmackDown (1 May - Results & Review)

2. We’re Too Far Gone For This Solo Promo

You would've been forgiven for thinking you'd accidentally clicked on an old episode of SmackDown on Netflix when Solo Sikoa and The Usos were out there jawing off about Roman Reigns as 'Tribal Chief'. Solo got all menacing on the mic and called Jacob Fatu “a dead man walking”. Then, Jimmy and Jey came out to confront their younger brother and warn him off Jacob until Roman has had his revenge on Fatu at Backlash.

Finally, Sikoa nodded to Talla Tonga and the big man laid his brothers out.

Yeah, none of this Bloodline interplay is particularly interesting in 2026. Most of the players involved feel less-than compared to Roman or even Fatu, and that’s coming across loud and clear. Even The Usos feel like pawns again, and we’re just out here hitting repeat buttons all over the place with segments like this one. Plus, on top of all that, Solo rarely feels like he suits playing a borderline mafia boss with bad intentions - he's been goofy here or there for years now, and that aura came off him a long time ago.

It's a bit mad that WWE wants to run back some Bloodline vs. New Bloodline stuff (which is precisely what the MFTs are supposed to be). Haven't we done this to death since 2020? Move on, lads. Nobody's saying that The Usos, Solo etc should never interact onscreen again, but they were saying largely the same things they have been for years on Friday's show, and it's rather lazy of creative to lean so hard on this yet again.

If old Bloodline business was "cinema", then this was 'straight-to-video'.