Trio Of Former WWE Stars Makes Surprise Return To SmackDown

A trio of talents who were released by WWE less than a year ago, are officially back with the company. Ashante "Thee" Adonis, B-Fab, and Top Dolla, collectively known as Hit Row, made a surprise appearance during Friday night's episode of "SmackDown". Adonis and Top Dolla easily defeated Dustin Lawyer and Daniel Williams in a tag team match. 

The return of Hit Row was an unannounced surprise, but it's far from a shock. Reports surfaced over recent days that WWE was looking to bring back Adonis and Top Dolla, though B-Fab was not mentioned in those reports. Conspicuously absent from the reunion of Hit Row in WWE was the fourth member of the group during its first run in the company, Swerve Strickland.

Hit Row formed in "NXT" in May 2021. Success came quickly, as Strickland (performing under the name Isaiah "Swerve" Scott) won the "NXT" North American Championship within weeks of the group's formation.

Hit Row was called up to the main roster during the WWE Draft last October, but what looked like the biggest opportunity of their careers turned into a disaster. All four were released by WWE within weeks of their call-up. There were reports that Top Dolla specifically had heat backstage.

Strickland went on to sign with AEW and debuted with the company at the Revolution pay-per-view back in March. Top Dolla later commented that Strickland "wanted to do his own thing" while wishing him well in his new journey. In AEW, Strickland formed the tag team Swerve In Our Glory with another WWE castoff Keith Lee. Together, they won the AEW Tag Team Championship last month.