Welcome to SmackDown Live, only 48 hours removed from the Battleground PPV!
Jinder Mahal retained the WWE Championship against Randy Orton in the Punjabi Prison match. However, to nobody’s surprise, Orton wasn’t beaten one-on-one. In fact, it took FOUR guys for Mahal to retain, including himself, The Singh Brothers, and the return of The Great Khali. Look, I don’t like the fact that Mahal is being booked so weak, nor does the return of Khali excite me, but I do like the concept of Mahal having an impressive entourage. Mahal is a beatable Champion but he has two lackeys who will go through hell for him, and a giant to be the muscle. It’s a great sight and I’m excited to see where WWE go next with the Punjabi Posse.
Kevin Owens won the United States Championship from AJ Styles at WWE Battleground. The match itself was fine but the finish left almost everyone scratching their heads. There was a seemingly unnecessary ref bump, a series of submissions in which nobody tapped, and then a weak roll-up to finish an anti-climatic match. It definitely was a blemish on a match that was only starting to get good. However, it’s likely we’ll get the rubber match between the two at SummerSlam and so the feud will continue tonight. That being said, there are rumours that last-minute plan changes were made to allow AJ to leap into a feud with Jinder Mahal. Either way, we’ll find out soon!
The New Day won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship’s on Sunday night, following the best match on the entire card. The match was fantastic and it felt like the right time to put the titles on The New Day. It’s unclear if we’re going to get a third showdown between the two teams at SummerSlam, but seeing as SmackDown’s tag division is pretty lacking, it seems likely. I’m fine with another month of these two teams going at it but in the meantime WWE really has to build a credible contender to New Day. Speaking of other teams, The Fashion Police were once again attacked on Sunday night and we’re no closer to figuring out who perpetrated the attacks. Rumour has it that Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are behind it, and I really hope that’s the case because they could be credible contender’s to the New Day should they beat The Fashion Police.
Natalya won the Five-Way Elimination Match at WWE Battleground on Sunday night, which means she will face Naomi at SummerSlam for the Women’s Championship. These two could have a good match but I worry about the feud when it comes to the microphone. That being said, WWE would do well to include Carmella in the feud and she could easily make it more interesting in the promo department, as well as give Naomi another thing to worry about.
That’s the preview for tonight’s show, which is likely to feature the continued feuds between Corbin and Nakamura, as well as Sami Zayn and Mike Kanellis. Don’t forget to check out the Ringside News app and get talking on the Ringside Talk app! Enjoy the show!
