Friday Fallout: Analyzing Stunning News, Teases on WWE SmackDown, AEW Rampage

Last week's SmackDown was a year-in-review show for 2021, but the blue brand was back in full swing this week to make Friday the official night of wrestling once again alongside All Elite Wrestling's Rampage.

Brock Lesnar made good on his promise to show up on SmackDown to confront Roman Reigns. He had Paul Heyman by his side as he threw down a challenge for The Tribal Chief to have a title vs. title match.

We also saw WWE tease a potential Universal Championship bout between Reigns and Seth Rollins later in the show, so The Tribal Chief went from having no challengers to having two in one night.

As WWE announced some of the competitors for the women's Royal Rumble match, Mickie James was acknowledged as the current Impact Knockouts women's champion. Needless to say, this caused a firestorm on Twitter.

Over on Rampage, we found out Cody Rhodes would be unable to compete in his scheduled TNT Championship match on Saturday, and Britt Baker almost ended up fighting Jamie Hayter after a miscommunication cost them a tag team match against Ruby Soho and Riho.

Let's look at some of the biggest moments from Friday's episodes of SmackDown and Rampage. 

SmackDown opened with Reigns coming to the ring all by himself for the first time in what seems like months. After a few quick words, he was joined by Heyman and Lesnar.

The Beast wasted no time and suggested they have a title vs. title match for the WWE and Universal Championships. While Reigns agreed this was a good idea, he didn't like it because it wasn't his idea.

Heyman ended up trying to say something before Lesnar told him to shut up. This momentary lapse in concentration led to Reigns hitting Lesnar with a Superman Punch.

While nothing is official yet, it's clear we are going to get this match at some point. If it does end up being for both titles, that could be the first sign of the brand split coming to an end.

With the roster being severely reduced over the past two years, it might make more sense to end the brand split and unify the rosters again. This would give us more variety in every division and allow some of the titles to mean more than they do at this moment.

For some reason, WWE opted to reveal the majority of the lineup for this year's women's Royal Rumble match during this week's show, and one entry had fans buzzing on social media.

Not only did WWE reveal James would be participating, but she was announced as the Impact Knockouts women's champion. Needless to say, social media blew up after this announcement with tons of fans expressing their joy at seeing her return for the Rumble. 

This marks one of the few times WWE has ever acknowledged an active competitor on its programming, let alone by the promotion's full name and in a positive way.

With the relationship between AEW and Impact Wrestling apparently cooling down in recent months, this is going to lead to a lot of speculation about some kind of relationship between Impact and WWE. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

While this is a great opportunity for James and some nice exposure for Impact, it's doubtful this will be a regular thing moving forward. It's more likely that this is a one-off appearance and nothing more. We won't see regular talent exchanges, and we won't see somebody holding both promotions' titles at the same time.

However, this does show a willingness on WWE's part to work with other companies for the benefit of everyone. It would be great if this led to more crossovers, although it seems unlikely. 

While WWE teased a match down the line between Lesnar and Reigns, we also found out what the Universal Championship match at The Royal Rumble could be.

As the show came to a close, Rollins walked into Reigns' locker room and started laughing his usual maniacal laugh, which seemed to indicate that he had been chosen as The Tribal Chief's next challenger.

As former Shield teammates and longtime rivals, Rollins and Reigns know each other as well as any two wrestlers. They have been through so much together, but WWE has kept them apart for a little while.

If this is indeed the plan, it's likely Reigns will retain so he and Lesnar can make good on the title vs. title bout they set up. 

Cody Rhodes was set to defend the TNT Championship against Sammy Guevara at Saturday's Battle for the Belts special, but AEW announced that medical protocols are preventing Cody from making an appearance.

In order to keep the TNT title on the card, Tony Khan booked Dustin Rhodes to replace his brother in a match to crown an interim champion until Cody can return.

If Dustin wins, we are eventually going to see him square off against his brother to see which Rhodes gets to claim the title. If Guevara wins, he will just run it back with Cody when he returns.

Guevara and Cody have already shown they have good chemistry, but it might be more interesting to get a brother vs. brother match again, especially if AEW wants to use it to solidify a heel turn for Cody.

Once we find out who is crowned the interim TNT champion, we will have a better idea of what we can expect when Cody returns. 

Baker and Hayter faced Riho and Soho in a tag team bout this week, but what happened after it was over is more interesting than the result.

After Hayter accidentally struck Baker and cost their team the match, she and Baker almost came to blows before Rebel got between them and calmed things down.

We have seen little bits of tension teased between DMD and her favorite henchwoman in recent weeks, but this is the closest they have come to actually hitting each other.

With Baker being such a natural heel, the best option would be for Hayter to turn babyface once this feud gets going. She is talented enough to earn the support of the crowd and seems like a great candidate to dethrone DMD as the AEW women's champion.

This could be a slow burn storyline or it could end up playing out within a week. Regardless of what happens, it feels like Baker's days as the champ are numbered. If Riho can't win the belt on Saturday, Hayter might just do it at the next pay-per-view.