Former WWE head writer Vince Russo has questioned the creative logic behind the central storyline involving Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa on the July 18 edition of Friday Night SmackDown.
The episode’s main angle began with a staged hit-and-run in the arena parking lot, with members of Sikoa’s MFT faction blaming Fatu for the incident. This led to Fatu being taken into police custody for questioning, while Sikoa later addressed the audience in the ring, calling Fatu a criminal. Speaking on the BroDown podcast, Russo highlighted what he considered a significant plot hole in the premise.
“So you’re gonna tell me Solo Sikoa crashed his own automobile to tell the police that Fatu crashed this car. Meanwhile, everybody except the WWE in this day and age knows there’s cameras everywhere. So Solo doesn’t think there’s gonna be any cameras around to see what happens. So he’s going to crash his own automobile to try to finger Fatu and not think for a second there’s going to be a million cameras in the parking lot to see what happened? That’s what I’m talking about. Are we supposed to believe that?”
Within the show’s narrative, the existence of security footage did play a role. Police later reviewed the evidence and exonerated Fatu, revealing that Sikoa had fraudulently accused his cousin. An enraged Fatu, accompanied by Jimmy Uso, returned and attacked Sikoa’s stable.
The night of chaos culminated with acting General Manager Adam Pearce making an official announcement. To settle the intense family rivalry, Sikoa will defend his United States Championship against Fatu at SummerSlam. The match, internally billed as “Blood vs. Blood,” will take place inside a Steel Cage to prevent outside interference. Following the announcement, the police returned to detain Sikoa for his fraudulent report.