Royce Keys backs Jacob Fatu before Roman Reigns at Backlash

Jacob Fatu had Royce Keys in his corner on roman reigns night, and the timing sharpened the build to his World Heavyweight Championship match at Backlash on Saturday. On Friday Night SmackDown in Jacksonville, Fla., Keys backed Fatu after The Usos warned him he was going to lose.

Fatu and Keys in Jacksonville

Fatu ran into Keys in the back after the ring segment with Jey and Jimmy Uso, and the reunion leaned on their shared wrestling past in the Bay Area and through West Coast Pro. Keys told him, "I heard what your cousins said out there, forget all that noise," before adding, "Failure has never been an option for us, has it? Failure was never an option, even when we didn’t know where our next dollar was coming from. Tell me this – when has Jacob Fatu been afraid of any man that breathes the same air as him?"

He finished by pushing Fatu toward Saturday, saying, "Go to Backlash, bring that home. Werewolf your a-- up because Jacob Fatu is all gas, no brakes with it. People like us, we’re gonna take everything we want." That gave Fatu a rare ally in a segment built around family pressure, with Roman Reigns named as the man standing in the way of the title.

Jey Uso’s warning

Jey Uso made the threat plain in the ring, telling Fatu, "Wanna know the worst part? He’s gonna break you down, emotionally, physically and he gonna do all that to you right in front of your family, Uce," after saying he was going to lose. Fatu answered that the match was personal and tied to more than a championship shot.

"This isn’t just a main event. This is for my family. If there’s one thing my family will see me do it’s becoming the WWE world heavyweight champion," he said. He also warned The Usos, "If you think about interfering, I will bring this whole goddamn family tree down."

Royce Keys and Tama Toga

The family thread did not end with Fatu. Later that night, Jey met with Keys before Keys’s match against Tama Toga and told him to stay in his lane or he would catch the eyes of the "Tribal Chief."

That turned the night into more than a simple stop on the road to Backlash. Fatu left SmackDown with support from a longtime wrestling colleague, while The Usos had already drawn a line around the championship match and the family ties surrounding it.