Roman Reigns Signs Fatal Four Way Contract On Friday Night Smackdown

Roman Reigns arrived at the All-State Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, to open the SmackDown telecast Friday evening. His arrival usually sets the tone for the show. In this case, it was clouded by an aura of disappointment and doubt as Solo Sikoa was made to feel the brunt of the “Tribal Chief’s” disappointment after the conclusion of last week’s SmackDown.

This was a star-studded evening as SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis brought out AJ Styles, LA Knight, and Randy Orton to sign the contract to face Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE World Title at the Royal Rumble in the evening’s first in-ring segment.

Aside from the A-side superstars in the building, United States Champion Logan Paul was also scheduled for the show ahead of his highly anticipated title defense against Kevin Owens. Paul was the 29^th entrant at last year’s Rumble and impressed fans by showing out in a match designed to highlight his athleticism.

Long-time WWE fans will remember the mid-card star from the mid-2000s, Carlito, who returned to the company last year in WWE’s Puerto Rico Premium Live Event. He also appeared on the show as a member of LWO and returned from the injured list.

All these men were given airtime in the first 30 minutes of the show, and I believe this was by brilliant design. The Royal Rumble is next Saturday, and that has always been a fan favorite. Part of that reason is the mystery surrounding all 30 participants in the over-the-top elimination match. While many participants are declared weeks leading up to the Rumble, WWE always leaves spots for surprise debuts/returns, NXT call-ups, and nostalgia acts.

While next week’s SmackDown should give us more build in the way of Rumble storylines — it’s the “go-home” episode, after all– what’s clear is that this week was used to subtly prepare us for the jam-packed superstar-fest that the WWE brass has in store for us.

SmackDown offered up nearly every interesting storyline going into Rumble. At the conclusion of SmackDown, it was tough to consider which of these directions to look forward to the most—which is a good thing considering the news that Seth Rollins is dealing with a torn MCL and partially torn meniscus (per FightFul.com) sustained from his title defense against Jinder Mahal on RAW Monday night.

Between Kevin Owens’ feud with Logan Paul really starting to develop and the potential for a 5-star fatal 4-way between Reigns, Styles, Knight, and Orton, the Premium Live Event is delivering quality matches outside of the two Rumbles scheduled that evening.

Paul played the usual obnoxious, self-centered character, but as a guest on the “KO Show,” he added levels to the feud by replaying the stunner KO delivered to Paul a WrestleMania-Covid. The focus on KO’s cast as a weapon is metaphorical for the protection that Paul receives as a “part-timer” with massive commercial appeal. The meta value here is enjoyable as it raises the kayfabe nature of everything.

The main event was between challengers in the fatal 4-way at Royal Rumble as AJ Styles squared off against LA Knight. This was a chance to further the optics of both men’s chances of winning the WWE title. It was rumored that Reigns and Orton were to face off one-on-one at the Rumble, and adding AJ and Knight was a matter of keeping distance between Reigns and Orton as a bigger storyline down the road is potentially planned.

Regardless, these are two of the best in the world, but ultimately, Styles and Knight decided to brawl it out at times, and I wish they kept it in the ring. A fatal 4-way means no DQ, so this was probably an accurate showing of what we will see when the title is on the line next weekend.

The Bloodline would eventually make their presence felt in the match, much of which was set up by backstage segments, with Reigns making his disappointment felt and making it clear that it was Solo’s responsibility to fix things. Solo hit the “Samoan Spike” on Styles and Knight to take them both out of the match.

Solo then demanded that Orton, the other challenger to Reigns’ title, come out to have a spontaneous main event in place of the one he disrupted. Orton obliged and quickly took control of the action. After hitting the DDT from the apron to the inside of the ring, Orton seemed poised to win, but Jimmy Uso came out for the distraction and was quickly neutralized by Styles and Knight.

Solo tried to take advantage of the distraction, but Orton hit the RKO… outta a very obvious finish to the match.

Orton would take the victory and then land an RKO on both Styles and Knight before Roman Reigns finally came down to the ring. His absence at the beginning of the night during the contract signing made it an untied plot thread that Roman closed upon hitting Orton with the “Superman Punch” and signed the contract.

It was a total power move in an otherwise flat ending of SmackDown. While the Rumble offers us plenty of intrigue and other matches are trending in the right direction, it feels like the Reigns stuff is reverting to the same trajectory we’ve become accustomed to seeing.

*A side note on this edition of SmackDown, Butch’s gimmick was finally dropped, and HHH reverted to his old name, Pete Dunn, and NXT ring attire. This was the best decision for a wrestler that was massively over in the Indies and overseas. Now, hopefully, Pete Dunn can resonate with fans in the same manner that got WWE’s attention in the first place.

Mario Mungia

Mario Mungia Jr. has a decade worth of experience as a combat sports journalist and correspondent which began with ThaBoxingVoice (TBV) as a podcast co-host, writer and editor-in-chief. Aside from his online resume, Mario spent a fair portion of his early career working for Spanish/English magazine Premier Round and the Mexican website Izquierdo. Mario has also contributed to NYFights while simultaneously working for MIC Sports Network as part of the broadcast crew covering local high school sports. Since then, he has launched his own podcast/live stream (Infighting/Work In Progress) and is covering pro wrestling for FightsATW.

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