Roman Reigns & LA Knight Face Off As John Cena Declines To Challenge On WWE SmackDown

"The Tribal Chief" may have returned to "WWE SmackDown" and the fans in Tulsa, Oklahoma may have acknowledged him, but that was outshined in part by WWE's hottest rising star in LA Knight, who confronted the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion to open the show.

Knight's partner at Fastlane, John Cena, kicked things off but before he could really get going, Reigns, Sola Sikoa, and "The Wise Man" Paul Heyman made their way to the ring. Reigns took issue with Cena right off the bat and "The GOAT" acquiesced to an extent, saying he was there to acknowledge him and tip his cap to his impressive reign as champion. Ever-so-humble in his current WWE run, Cena denied that he was there to challenge Reigns but slyly indicated that he knew someone who was.

Enter: LA Knight. Cue: Crowd pop. If there was a question about the stock WWE is putting in Knight to this point, this faceoff may have settled that right here and now.

Knight came in hot, imploring Reigns to indeed declare himself "The Head of the Table" and "The Tribal Chief" before anointing putting praise on himself and his meteoric rise of late just in time to eat a blindside shot from Jimmy Uso. But Knight fought him off, and as what's left of The Bloodline left the ring, Knight grabbed the mic and took issue with the whole bunch, challenging not Uso but Sikoa, with a match between the two now set for later on tonight, with who-knows-what's-in-store between he and Reigns down the road.