WWE Friday Night Smackdown: FTR Edition

Let's start with the big wrestling news story that broke this morning... WWE has Freed The Revival (though not completely)

WWE announced earlier today that the former 2x Raw Tag Team Champions, 2x NXT Tag Team Champions, & Smackdown Tag Team Champions... Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson... were wished well in their future endeavors

It's been no secret that The Revival haven't been happy with things in the WWE... I mean they first requested their release approximately 16 months ago and finally got it today

But the timing of WWE granting the release is no surprise either. The Revival have refused some, reportedly, BIG money deals that WWE had offered, showing their willingness to let their contracts expire. With both contracts set to expire before the end of June, assuming WWE has put in play a 90-day no compete clause (a la Brodie Lee), the no compete would actually keep The Revival from showing up on a competitor's TV show(s) until early-mid July. So doing it this way will actually keep Dash & Dawson off TV for at least a few weeks longer than if their contracts had just expired (where they would've been able to get on TV immediately, which would've been mid-late June if they wanted to debut elsewhere together).

And yes, it is widely assumed that The Revival will turn up in AEW almost as soon as they possibly can, a place where tag team wrestling is a focus and not an afterthought (like it is in WWE)... I mean the whole "FTR" thing started because The Revival & The Young Bucks were having a Twitter feud, and that's a real life tag team feud wrestling fans do want.

Now onto tonight's actual show... which will apparently be LIVE from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. with no audience (how great is it be able to call yourself a "media entity" so you can be considered essential instead of just an "entertainment business"... and yes WWE is set to film A BUNCH of content over this weekend to help them get through the next few weeks/months of this quarantine)

New WWE BlUniversal Champion Braun Strowman begins his (long overdue) reign as 1 of WWE's top champions... even if it is just in a 'placeholder' role until Roman Reigns gets back... but will a new challenger step to the Champion Among Men at the risk of Getting These Hands?

Oh by the way... are we buying reports that Goldberg & Vince had a serious disagreement over the whole dropping the belt at 'Mania deal after Roman was forced out of the match?

And immediate re-match clause be damned in WWE... Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross defend their newly won WWE Women's Tag Team Championship against... wait for it... the team they defeated at Wrestlemania to win the belts... The Kabuki Warriors

and b/c there's no such thing as too much Alexa Bliss