Welcome to an action-packed episode of SmackDown Live for the 1st of August!
Tonight’s SmackDown Live is anchored by a genuine dream match that would seem perfectly fitting on a WrestleMania card, and that’s John Cena Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura! Who would ever have thought they would see these two go at it? Not me for sure but that’s the (wrestling) world we live in nowadays. This has all the makings of an instant classic match between two of the greatest stars in wrestling today and I could see them having amazing chemistry. I simply hope that Nakamura shows up and Cena brings out the best in him because so far on SmackDown, we definitely haven’t seen the best of Nakamura.
Another huge showdown tonight is between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens for the United States Championship. Last week’s post-Battleground show offered us a Triple Threat between Owens, Styles and a returning Chris Jericho for the US Championship, which Styles ended up winning. The US Championship has changed hands a lot recently, so surely tonight won’t see it switch back over to Owens? Surely. Their feud has been underwhelming thus far but I still have hope that the best is yet to come.
Also on tonight’s show, Naomi teams with Becky Lynch to face Natalya and Carmella. Naomi has been locked in a struggle with both women, Becky on the other hand doesn’t have a ton going on. Or does she? For a few weeks now Becky has been having a Twitter war with UFC’s Featherweight Champion, Cris Cyborg. This is a really out-of-the-blue feud but one that has a serious chance of actually coming to something. This isn’t like when Conor McGregor trolls the WWE Superstar’s and they fall for it, this is Cyborg actively lobbying to have a match with Becky at SummerSlam and the Lass Kicker seems up for it. SummerSlam is less than three weeks away, so if WWE are serious about this, they should start the build now!
Last week The New Day came out to celebrate their newly won SmackDown Tag Team Championships, only to be beaten down by The Uso’s before they even made it to the ring. This feud is clearly far from over and the two teams are on a collision course for SummerSlam, which is great for SmackDown because their matches are fantastic. And as I’ve mentioned before, there really aren’t any contender’s for the tag titles outside of The Uso’s. Hopefully that starts to change soon.
That’s the preview for tonight’s SmackDown Live, which comes to us from Cleveland, home of Dolph Ziggler and The Miz! Remember to download the free Ringside News app to get all your daily coverage, and check out the Ringside Talk app to join in the conversation with your fellow wrestling fans. Enjoy the show!
