Cody Rhodes & R-KO Send The New Bloodline Running In Explosive WWE SmackDown Opening

Ahead of their advertised six-man tag match at Money in the Bank, Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, and Tonga Loa made their way to the ring to open up "WWE SmackDown," with Sikoa ignoring (and laughing at) Paul Heyman's query as to where their latest addition, Jacob Fatu, might be. As this latest iteration of The Bloodline took the Madison Square Garden stage, before any of them could utter a word, all of WWE Undisputed World Champion Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Kevin Owens, their opponents in said Money in the Bank match, met them in the middle, sparking a brawl that sent the Samoan/Tongan alliance running as security tried to settle everything down.

As "SmackDown" General Manager Nick Aldis tried to calm the situation, Orton hit a security guard with his trademark RKO, others got caught with Stunners, and another still got hit with Cody's Cross-Rhodes. With the physicality out of the way, Rhodes took to the microphone, letting The Bloodline contingency know that he looks at their latest incarnation as a makeshift, watered-down version of the group he "thought he finished at WrestleMania 40." From there, the champ put the hammer down even further, telling Sikoa that, despite his presumed assumption of Roman Reigns' vacated seat at the head of the table, he "doesn't see a 'Tribal Chief' but rather a "seat filler."

Rhodes then headed to the backstage area with his allies, escorted by police, and then, once joined by Aldis, into a car to drive them away from The Garden altogether.