Another Match Set for WWE SummerSlam
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The following matches are excepted to be added to the upcoming August 20th WWE SummerSlam event:
RAW Tag Team Championship
Sheamus & Cesaro (c) vs. Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose
Smackdown Tag Team Championship
New Day vs. Usos
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
Intercontinental Championship
The Miz vs. Jason Jordan
United States Championship
AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho
The Hardy Boyz vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. The Revival
Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt
Big Cass vs. Big Show
Cruiserweight Championship
Neville vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Ariya Daivari
AJ Styles just defeated Kevin Owens to become a two-time WWE United States Champion. With Styles looking to begin an open challenge, he will have many fresh challengers. One of these challengers will eventually dethrone Styles. Someone will dethrone the one who dethroned Styles. So on and so forth.
Who will be the next person to hold United States gold? Who will become a champion soon? Only time will tell, but here are some bold predictions. Who will become a United States champion before 2017 ends?
Styles is supposed to defend his championship next week on Smackdown. Given WWE’s recent fascination with nonsensical booking decisions, expect Owens to regain the title and become a four-time US Champion.
The match, if it’s anything like their last few matches, will be a mostly okay match. It will be good for a TV match. Eventually, though, some weird booking decision will work in Kevin Owens’ favor. Maybe the referee won’t see a weapon shot, or won’t see a rope break. Maybe Kevin Owens will pick up the whole announce table and hit AJ with it and the referee won’t know if he should disqualify Owens. At the end of a hard-fought match, though, Owens will walk away with the gold.
The next week, he’ll cut a promo saying he’s hosting an open challenge. Styles will answer, and Owens will deny him. Either Daniel Bryan or Shane McMahon will book the match for the following week, because ratings or something. Whatever. Styles will get his rematch.
What will happen after Styles gets his rematch? It’s easy.
At the rematch, AJ Styles will channel the strength of his home state of Georgia. With the weight of 10 million people squarely on his shoulders, Styles will vanquish that dastardly Canadian Kevin Owens and become a three-time United States champion. Ideally, the match would be a no holds barred street fight. The Atlanta Falcons will all be at ringside (despite the show being held in Providence, Rhode Island), and they’ll all attack Kevin Owens. Then the Montreal Canadiens will show up and attack the Falcons. Styles will then perform a Styles Clash to Kevin Owens off the top rope, outside the ring, and onto both teams, who are conveniently brawling near the turnbuckle. Amidst all the strewn bodies at ringside, Styles will roll Owens’ lifeless body into the ring and get the three-count.
Next week, AJ will announce that he’s holding an Open Challenge. John Cena will answer, because reasons. Kevin Owens will also appear, along with Jinder Mahal. They’ll have a tag team match, and Owens will face Styles at Summerslam for the United States Championship.
What happens at Summerslam? I think you know.
At Summerslam, Kevin Owens will defeat AJ Styles in a 60-minute 6-pack Iron Man Elimination match that will also feature Sami Zayn, Tye Dillinger, Aiden English, and Mike Kannelis. Owens will eliminate Styles by fighting with the weight of 35 million people on his shoulders. Styles will be fighting with the weight of 323 million people on his shoulders, but since his burden is heavier, Owens capitalizes on that and wins.
Owens will once again proclaim that he will be hosting an open challenge. Styles will demand a match, but Owens will deny him, saying he’s fought him too many times. Styles moves to the back of the line, and Kevin Owens faces new challengers.
Kevin Owens will then hold on to the United States Championship for the rest of his career. He’ll retire 10 years later, still the United States champion. At his last ever match, it will be for the championship. The match will end in a DQ, and Owens gets to retire with the title, forever the New Face of America.
While appearing on Edge & Christian’s podcast, AJ Styles revealed that it was actually Vince McMahon’s idea for Kevin Owens to drop the United States Championship title to him at the Madison Square Garden event a few weeks back.
“To me, it’s smart. It’s something that hasn’t been done in a long time and to do it at Madison Square Garden and everybody with WWE knows that’s a big deal. I think it was awesome. I think it was very clever and I loved it.”
Styles recalled, “there was a pop, ‘he won! Yes!’ but, ‘well, who’s going to walk out there?’ and then, there was another pop because nobody walked out there. It was really cool, but it was smart to not do that every year, but every couple of years to do something like that. I think it just came down to doing something different and it was Vince’s call and no one else’s. And yeah, it was great.”
Styles went on to explain how he wouldn’t be surprised to see the WWE Championship change hands at a SmackDown Live live event.
“You never know. And who knows? When the guys wrestling, whoever it may be wrestling Jinder Mahal, they may switch it. If you’ve got John Cena working Jinder Mahal on the main event or whatever, it could possibly happen. That’s a good idea. That’s a business move to some extent.”
As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, AJ Styles participated and won a Fatal 3-Way match for the United States Championship against Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. WWE posted a Fallout video where Styles talks to Renee Young about his win.
In the video, Styles says he just proved that Owens isn’t the man to carry the US Title, which he’s been telling people. AJ would go on to mention that the title represents the workhorse of WWE and that is AJ Styles.
Styles also posted the following on Twitter regarding the victory:
WWE announced that Jason Jordan will appear on the MizTV segment on next week’s episode of RAW. Dave Meltzer indicated on the recent installment of Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE most-likely booked this angle to setup a possible feud between The Miz and Jordan for next month’s SummerSlam event for an Intercontinental Title match.
There was speculation that Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose would be challenging The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship on the card, but those plans appear to be nixed.
We will keep you updated if we hear anything new regarding the Intercontinental Title being defended at SummerSlam.
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!
Daniel Bryan announced on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live that John Cena will face Nakamura on next week’s show. The winner of that match will be the #1 contender for the WWE Championship and will face Jinder Mahal for the title at SummerSlam.
As of this writing, no other matches or segments have been announced for next week’s show but we will keep you updated.