As seen on WWE Smackdown tonight, R-Truth made his return to the ring after a lengthy absence due to injury.

Truth lost a quick singles match to Samoa Joe on Smackdown, who later in the show attacked AJ Styles and proclaimed himself to be AJ Styles’ next WWE Title challenger at SummerSlam.

Also on tonight’s show, as R-Truth made his return, it looks like James Ellsworth might be finishing up his brief run with WWE as he was “fired” by Smackdown GM Paige. Ellsworth interrupted Paige’s announcement of Styles’ next Title challenger, claiming he should face Styles for the title, and instead Paige showed Ellsworth the door, firing him from The Blue Brand.

As we reported several weeks ago, Ellsworth’s return to WWE TV was never meant to be longterm, as he did not sign a deal when he returned to the company at Money in the Bank, and was instead being used on a per appearance basis.

In other Smackdown news, The Bar officially made their TV returns tonight, and will face The Usos next week in the second match of the Tag Team Title tournament. The New Day defeated SAnitY tonight to become the first team to advance.

Did you miss them? #TheBar #SDLive @WWECesaro @WWESheamus pic.twitter.com/q2baUHF3dx

— WWE (@WWE) July 25, 2018

There’s been #988 episodes of Smackdown and… @RealPaigeWWE just made the biggest mistake in #SDLive history!

I should be in the main event at #SummerSlam against @AJStylesOrg #WWEUniverse start using the hashtag #RehireEllsowrth NOW!!

Be heard!!!

— James Ellsworth (@realellsworth) July 25, 2018