WWE SmackDown notes: Tama Tonga returns, Ted Turner tribute, Danhausen
Notes from Friday’s SmackDown.
After being gone for a week, Tama Tonga returned on Friday’s SmackDown to get involved during the Talla Tonga/Damian Priest match, allowing Solo Sikoa to freely interfere on behalf of Talla. R-Truth came out to even the odds, but it wasn’t enough as Talla attacked Priest at ringside then finished the match with a chokeslam. After the match, the MFTs surrounded Priest but was interrupted by Royce Keys, who came out for the save.
Later backstage, Tonga was upset about Sikoa’s attempts to recruit Keys, saying he would deal with Keys himself. But that ultimately proved to be a failing effort, with Keys later defeating Tonga after a spinebuster. As Tonga was recovering backstage he ran into Shinsuke Nakamura, who said he was disappointed that Tonga was still associated with the MFTs. Talla then arrived to confront Nakamura, who didn’t seem impressed by the big man.
Following the departures of Tonga Loa and JC Mateo last week, there had been speculation that Tama Tonga may have been among the long list of names recently released by the company as he wasn’t seen on last week’s show.
Danhausen attempts to clone himself, WWE pays tribute to Ted Turner
Danhausen continued to tease his mystery partner for Backlash on Friday, with The Miz declaring that the only way he would be able to get a tag team partner is if he ended up teaming with himself. This led to Danhausen creating a cloning machine, which started to run. Danhausen said he would have his clone ready in 24 hours, only for the machine to break.
In an exclusive that later aired on social media, Trick Williams and Lil Yachty were beaming about their plot against Sami Zayn as Williams threw the Gingerbread Man costume away. However, the Gingerbread Man’s story wasn’t done as Danhausen found the costume and took it, seemingly hinting what could happen tomorrow in Tampa.
Elsewhere, the opening of Friday’s SmackDown saw WWE pay tribute to former WCW head Ted Turner with an on-screen graphic following his passing earlier this week. Vince McMahon took direct shots at the media mogul in the mid 1990s, accusing him of “stealing” talent. McMahon went on to parody him, Hulk Hogan, and Macho Man Randy Savage in a series of skits that aired on WWE television in early 1996.
Bryan Rose is an editor from California that has been covering professional wrestling for well over a decade. He officially joined F4WOnline as an editor in 2017.