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Triple H unveils new WWE Universal Championship

Tonight's episode of SmackDown was certainly memorable.


A brand new WWE Championship was introduced, two Money in the Bank qualifying matches and plenty of tag team action took place on the June 2 edition of SmackDown.


The show opened with a video package of Roman Reigns' historic 1,000 day reign as Universal Champion, highlighting all of the former champions he has surpassed on his current streak.


The action in the ring then began with a 6-man tag match between the Brawling Brutes and the trio of Austin Theory and Pretty Deadly.


The latter were a well worked team and have great potential to continue in the future.


The match was a lively start to the show and foreshadowed an upbeat crowd for the night.


Pretty Deadly hit Sheamus with their double team move Spilt Milk, before United States Champion Austin Theory landed A-Town Down to Sheamus, before covering for a pinfall victory.



Following the match, there was a Paul Heyman promo backstage where he interacted with Solo Sikoa.


He said: "I will go to (Adam) Pearce to make sure your brothers (The Usos) will not be seen tonight."


Next was the match between The OC and Hit Row.


This was short-lived and lasted a matter of minutes. The OC dominated and limited Hit Row to a number of attacks before hitting their team finisher The Magic Killer and taking the victory.


After the bell, AJ Styles took to the top rope to deliver a Phenomenal Forearm to Top Dolla, further punishing the losers.


The camera then cut to another backstage promo, this time with Adam Pearce and Paul Heyman.


Heyman made his feelings known to Pearce explaining his desire to not have The Usos in the building.


Pearce replied with: "The Usos' travel has been cancelled and we have doubled security to prevent them making it to the ring if they try."


Back to the action in the ring, Grayson Waller presented the Grayson Waller Effect and introduced New Raw Women's Champion Asuka to the ring.


Asuka was congratulated for her victory to become the champion, before being interrupted by the SmackDown Women's roster one-by-one, all making their feelings known that Asuka was not safe if one of them were to win the Money in the Bank briefcase.



Once they all made their way out of the ring, Asuka was attacked by Bianca Belair (the former champion) on the ramp. The two had to be separated by security in the end.


Following a commercial break, Lacey Evans and Zelina Vega faced off for a chance to participate in the Women's MITB Ladder Match.


After a tightly fought contest, \it was Vega who hit her finisher Code Red to secure the victory and claim her place in the Ladder Match.


The qualification matches didn't stop there as immediately after, Montez Ford and LA Knight faced off for a spot in the Men's MITB Ladder Match.


It was a strange situation where the Heel was actually the crowd-favourite and the Babyface Montez Ford was getting booed as the crowd were largely fans of LA Knight.


It was a fast paced match between the two superstars and quick thinking got the job done for Knight.


The Megastar avoided contact when Ford went for a Splash from the top rope and then countered a roll-up pin with one of his own, where he illegally used the rope as leverage, but the official never saw.


LA Knight qualified for the /men's MITB Ladder Match for July 1.



The WWE Universe were then greeted by a disturbing video package of NXT Women's Champions Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn, showcasing their threat to the Women's division.


Triple H then made his way to the ring for the main promo of the night, the ceremony of the Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns.



Fans noticed the shape inside the ring and speculation became true when the New WWE Universal Championship was unveiled to the WWE Universe.



In fact, it was very similar to the current belts Roman Reigns held, but the base colour had changed from black to gold.

Roman Reigns was then gifted the title in the ring and the celebrations begun...

until The Usos music hit and the twins made their way to the ring.


The Champion then ordered Jey Uso to superkick his brother Jimmy in the face like the one he received last Saturday in Saudi Arabia.


Jey was reluctant and Jimmy then took control of the situation by explaining how Roman was abusing his power as champion, through his family.


He then followed this up by shoving Roman in the face, a replica of the way Roman treated Jey the weekend before.


Solo Sikoa then took the microphone and said: "I acknowledge you my Tribal Chief, but these two... they're my brothers."



Roman along with the crowd was stunned and then turned his attention back to Jimmy.


Jey got between the two of them and acted as the peacekeeper momentarily, until they agreed to hug it out.



Solo then completed the swerve and landed a Samoan Spike to the throat of Jimmy Uso, before exiting the ring with Reigns and Heyman.



Before the cameras cut, towards the top of the ramp Heyman asked: "What about Jey?"


The Tribal Chief simply replied: "Jey will do what he always does, fall in line!"



Civil War has truly begun in The Bloodline and Roman Reigns is the cause of it from The Usos' perspective.


The story continues next Friday...


During the show, we also heard of more MITB qualification matches that will take place on Raw and SmackDown:


- Butch vs Baron Corbin

- Santos Escobar vs Mustafa Ali

- Mia Yim vs Bayley

- Iyo Sky vs Shotzi


It was also made official that Seth Rollins will defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Damian Priest on Raw next week.


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