LA Knight's United States Championship rematch against Shinsuke Nakamura ended in a disqualification during "WWE SmackDown." Knight lost the title to Nakamura back in November at Survivor Series, having since seen his journey back to it intersect with The Bloodline as he faced them in tag team action as well as Solo Sikoa in singles action. But he would also brush up against them during Friday's show ahead of his rematch, throwing Jacob Fatu out of the venue after he and Tama Tonga set upon Jimmy Uso and several WWE officials.
That would prove a costly interaction during the match as Fatu and Tonga returned to cost Knight when things were going well for him, the referee calling for a disqualification but the title not changing hands. Fatu and Tonga's beatdown was interrupted by a run-in save from Uso and Cody Rhodes. Once more, officials came out to separate the parties, but Rhodes called for Nick Aldis to book a tag team match between them later in the show, which the General Manager agreed to and made the announcement. Friday's match was supposed to have been Nakamura's first title defense since beginning his third reign with the US Championship 42 days ago.