Hit Row Debuts, Brock Lesnar Targets Roman Reigns and More WWE SmackDown Fallout

WWE was in Saudi Arabia for Crown Jewel on Thursday, so many of the men and women on the roster had to take a long international flight immediately after the event just to make it back in time for Friday's SmackDown.

Following his loss to Roman Reigns at the pay-per-view, Brock Lesnar made an appearance and attacked The Tribal Chief and the rest of The Bloodline in the opening segment. 

After being drafted to the blue brand earlier in October, Drew McIntyre and Hit Row made their first official appearances as members of the SmackDown roster.

We also saw videos hyping the impending arrivals of Ridge Holland and Aliyah, among others, Xavier Woods was officially crowned the King of the Ring and Charlotte Flair traded belts with Becky Lynch so they could become their respective new brands' champions.

Let's take a look at some of the biggest moments from Friday's show.

Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman came out at the top of the show, and The Tribal Chief immediately asked his advocate whether he was holding the title for him or Lesnar. The look on Heyman's face was one of nervousness and fear.

He told Heyman that he was not good at his job after the way he screwed up at Crown Jewel when he threw the belt in the ring right between Reigns and Lesnar. The champ said that, thankfully, he is the best of the best and still gave The Beast a whooping.

He revealed that The Beast sent out a threat via Twitter and that he was more than happy to hand him another beating. He was about to leave before Lesnar's music hit, and he came out looking like a big, furious lumberjack.

They fought in and out of the ring until Lesnar hit the champ with the steel steps. The Usos prevented him from putting The Tribal Chief through a table, but they couldn't save themselves from being thrown around like rag dolls. It took WWE official Adam Pearce and the whole roster to stop the fight.

It is crystal clear that this feud is nowhere near its conclusion. Lesnar still wants the title, Heyman's allegiances are still in question and Reigns is going to want revenge for being made to look like a fool.

Survivor Series is set for November 21, but with Pearce announcing that Lesnar is suspended indefinitely for his actions, a more likely scenario would be the rematch taking place on WWE's New Year's Day show, Day 1.

The news of the suspension brought The Beast back to the ring. He got in Pearce's face and made him repeat himself before delivering two F-5s.

Suspending Lesnar allows WWE to book the usual Raw vs. SmackDown bouts for Survivor Series while keeping this feud in its back pocket. If the Reigns and Lesnar don't have another bout at Day 1, the odds of the latter showing up during the Royal Rumble to set up a WrestleMania match will go way up.

After being drafted to the blue brand at the start of October, McIntyre made the move to SmackDown on Friday. He wanted to make a big first impression by issuing an open challenge to anyone brave enough to fight a giant Scotsman carrying a sword.

Sami Zayn came out and said he was the best Superstar on SmackDown and quickly accepted the challenge. McIntyre seemed happy at this development, but as soon as the bell rang, Zayn rolled out of the ring to play some mind games. Eventually, McIntyre scored the win.

While it's clear WWE still wants McIntyre to be seen as a top star, it also doesn't look like it wants to stick him right into a feud with Reigns for the universal title.

Unless the plan is for him to go after a midcard belt instead, WWE is likely going to book him in short feuds until space opens up for him in the main event scene. That creates some interesting possibilities.

The Scottish Warrior has been in and out of the world title scene for almost two years. He could use some time away from it to find the fun side of his character again. He could even form a tag team with somebody and chase those titles to keep himself busy while Reigns feuds with Lesnar.

Imagine if he and Sheamus made up and battled The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. They could produce some epic matches.

After being drafted from NXT, Hit Row finally made its SmackDown debut on Friday. As the group walked to the ring, each member introduced themselves to the WWE Universe.

Their first match saw Top Dolla and Isaiah "Swerve" Scott taking on two enhancement talents in what turned out to be one of the easiest wins of Hit Row's career.

Right before the match took place, a series of quick videos played, with some of the recent draftees like Ridge Holland, Humberto Carrillo and Angel Garza telling the world who they are and why they should be feared. Except for Aliyah. She just wants to give SmackDown a makeover.

It looks like WWE wants to give some of these new faces a jumpstart, but it also felt like the beginning of NXT 2.0 all over again. A lot of new faces being introduced all at once means they will have to fight for screen time instead of having their debuts spaced out so that everyone benefits.

WWE should know by now that most people who watch SmackDown and Raw will be at least familiar with NXT stars. It's almost like WWE wants to claim NXT is the third brand but still treats it like the developmental system. But that would be counterproductive, right?

Hit Row has the best chance at quick success, but Holland is somebody who could become a major player in a short time if he impresses in his first few outings on the main roster.

As for Aliyah, well, we will have to wait to see whether WWE books her like it did in NXT or actually portrays her as a threat. So far, the former appears more likely.

The draft may have taken place at the start of October, but there was one last trade to take care of on Friday. Lynch and Flair are now on opposite brands from the titles they hold, so WWE booked a whole segment devoted to them exchanging the belts instead of having it taken care of backstage as The Street Profits and The New Day did last year.

After an exchange that felt like it took forever, they finally traded belts. That was it. Once The Man made her exit, Sasha Banks and The Queen fought until Sonya Deville got between them.

Before Lynch left, Charlotte proposed a winner-takes-all match for both belts. The crowd popped at the idea, but with only a few minutes left, it was clearly a tease they were not going to pay off on Friday.

It looks like The Boss will be The Queen's first official rival on the blue brand, but with Big Time Becks waiting in the wings to face the SmackDown women's champion at Survivor Series, a title vs. title bout is still a possibility.

SmackDown was short on matches Friday but did feature some fun moments and storyline developments with a handful of feuds. Seeing Xavier Woods get a coronation ceremony with no shenanigans was also a nice touch.