After a five-year stint on FOX, Friday Night SmackDown returned to the USA Network on September 13th, 2024 live from Seattle Washington. SmackDown moving back to USA gives the network all three major shows within WWE until NXT moves to the CW Network on October 1st.
Continue on to see what major news came from the stacked SmackDown return to USA…
New Logo
With SmackDown moving to a new home comes a new fresh look to the logo that was found all over the show from the video boards to the microphone flag.
New Theme Song
Moving to a new network means a fresh start for everything, including the theme song. Mega hip hop star Megan Thee Stallion lends her song Neva Play featuring RM of BTS
Cody Rhodes retained the WWE Championship in a Steel Cage Match against Solo Sikoa.
Solo Sikoa dominated Cody Rhodes for the majority of the match. The tide turned when Cody climbed up to the top of the cage. He dove onto Solo for a near fall. Not too soon after, Rhodes would hit the Cross Rhodes and get the victory to keep the WWE Championship.
Roman Reigns Returns!
After Cody Rhodes retained the WWE Championship against Solo Sikoa, The Bloodline would surround Cody while the cage was still down. As The Bloodline was beating down Rhodes, the OTC made his return after a few weeks away to save Cody.
Randy Orton returns to SmackDown to be Kevin Owens’ mystery tag partner
Kevin Owens has been feuding with Austin Theory and Grayson Waller for some time now; which led to a tag match where Owens would have a mystery partner. To Theory and Waller’s dismay, the partner was The Viper Randy Orton who made his return to SmackDown after a brief hiatus where Orton was on Raw challenging Gunther for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. KO and Randy won after a Stunner / RKO combo.
Legends Show Out for SmackDown’s return to USA
Many legends were introduced between segments on tonight’s SmackDown including: Rob Van Dam, Vickie Guerrero, Queen Sharmell with Booker T, Ron Simmons, Teddy Long, William Regal, and Bobby Roode.
Andrade v. Melo – Part V
The tremendous series of matches between Carmelo Hayes and Andrade (possibly) met it’s conclusion with Andrade hitting The Message from the turnbuckle to earn the victory. After the match, LA Knight came out and let Andrade know that he’s the next contender for the WWE United States Championship at Bad Blood.
Roman Reigns closes the show
To close out SmackDown’s return to the USA Network, Roman Reigns got on the microphone for the first time since returning to the WWE. Reigns would proclaim that regardless of who holds the necklace, “I AM THE TRIBAL CHIEF.”
Cody Rhodes, after originally turning down the contract to team with Reigns against Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu, interrupted Reigns and reminded him that it hasn’t been his WWE since WrestleMania.
Sikoa and Fatu would then come out, and after a blindside attack from the rest of The Bloodline, Reigns signed the contract, followed by Rhodes to set up the mega tag team showdown at Bad Blood.