From a beautiful relationship in the making to the latest twist in one of WWE's most famous frienships, SmackDown brought the heat this week.
Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from Friday night.
1. The Golden Role Models are no more
Just a few short weeks ago, both Bayley and Sasha Banks were two-title champions. But after losing the Women's Tag Team Championships at Payback and failing to recapture them on SmackDown, Bayley apparently has had enough.
The SmackDown Women's Champion snapped on Friday night, brutally assaulting her best friend after at first appearing to console Banks about the loss. Instead, Bayley blindsided her now-former partner on the ring apron, tossing her to the outside before slamming her into the ring steps.
Back in the ring, Bayley focused on Sasha's bad knee, which the former Raw Women's Champion aggravated during the match, then attempted to snap her leg with a chair. When Banks fought back, Bayley landed a vicious knee to the head, finally leaping from the turnbuckle to crush Sasha's throat in that same chair:
Bayley taunted Banks the entire time, telling her she deserved the beating, before Sasha was ultimately loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance.
Something tells us this is a relationship even Dr. Rachel Bonnetta can't fix.
2. "Believe that."
The age of Roman Reigns as Universal Champion has begun once more. And this time, of course, The Big Dog has an advocate.
Or, at least, special counsel.
Make no mistake, though: Reigns wasn't looking for or in need of a mouthpiece on Friday night, despite a few nice barbs from Paul Heyman toward Michael Cole and Corey Graves.
Instead, Reigns did his own talking, with one of the strongest interviews he's given in recent memory, saying all potential challengers would simply be "slaughtered."
Believe that, indeed.
3. A new, familiar No. 1 contender
A champion needs an opponent, and a Fatal 4-Way between Sheamus, Matt Riddle, Baron Corbin and Big E on Friday night was slated to name Reigns' next foe.
Unfortunately for Big E, Sheamus had other ideas, unleashing a backstage assault on the man behind the swiveling hips of The New Day:
That opened the door for Jey Uso, who oh-so-conveniently happened to chat with his cousin Roman earlier in the night:
... and received a pep talk (of sorts) from Reigns before the match:
The motivational tactic must have worked, as Uso claimed the win and the No. 1 contender spot.
Jey's win raises an interesting question – namely, will Reigns be down to get that steak they talked about earlier?
Wait, no, not that. Rather, how will Reigns, with his newfound edge, react to putting his Universal title on the line against family?
