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As previously noted, Jim Ross will be one of the announcers for the upcoming women’s tournament that will be taped on July 13 and 14th. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Lita is being considered to join J.R. on the commentating booth.
While the show is being taped in July, there is no official announcement yet on when WWE plans to air the shows on the WWE Network. We will keep you updated.
Russo is joined on today’s show by his co-host Jeff Lane.
Russo says that he switched brands this week, and he’s going to review Smackdown Live instead of RAW. He points out that it’s probably a good thing that he didn’t watch RAW this week because it hit a new low rating. Unfortunately, after watching Smackdown Live, he assumes that Smackdown Live’s rating this week is going to be poor as well.
If Russo was writing this week’s episode of Smackdown Live, it would have been Jinder Mahal’s show. From the beginning to the end, this entire show would have been based around the new WWE Champion. He feels that WWE dropped the ball in this area.
In the opening segment of the show we saw a prime example of WWE’s lack of roster depth. This comes as a result of the brand split, and WWE has no other choice but to use the same 5 or 6 performers for every big match such as Money in the Bank. Dolph Ziggler, A.J. Styles and Baron Corbin all lost at Backlash, but now they’re rewarded with an opportunity for some reason.
As seen on WWE programming lately, WWE has been doing a lot of multi-person matches. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that “booking is slow” and that’s the reason the viewers are being stuck with these types of matches.
While WWE has things planned out for the upcoming SummerSlam pay-per-view event, the company doesn’t have many creative ideas for storylines until then. These multi-person matches are essentially being done as a way to fill up time.
Coming out of Monday’s episode of RAW, Dave Meltzer mentioned on Wrestling Observer Radio that the company is setting up a mix tag match that feature Alicia Fox and Noam Dar vs. Sasha Banks and a male partner.
Meltzer indicated that Banks’ partner will probably be Cedric Alexander, as Alexander has history with Noam Dar and Alicia Fox prior to his injury. With Alexander scheduled to return from injury on this week’s episode of 205 Live, it’s very possible that they set up the match as early as tonight.
In regards to the RAW Women’s Championship, Banks isn’t expected to be put back in the title picture anytime soon. Right now they are doing a program between Alexa Bliss and Bayley.
There is currently a strange heel/face dynamic in WWE. The ‘faces’ often receive boo’s from the crowd while the heels receive cheers. This is a notion that a mere 25 years ago would have been unimaginable. It has mostly become a slow inclining trend since the nWo formed.
Just look at Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman as perfect examples. Reigns is the company man, the superhero, the do-good ass kicker who fights for us getting booed out of arenas. While Strowman, the monster who wants to cause havoc and inflict pain while ruining lives and bullying the roster, receives love, support and praise from fans.
Despite these blurred lines however, a well executed heel turn in WWE can be fantastic. For example, Seth Rollins turning on The Shield will stand the test of time for its flawless timing and execution. As well as creating excellent moments, a good heel turn can lead to a career resurgence. Look at The New Day, their heel turn gave way to one of WWE’s most entertaining stables of all time.
Simply put, heel turns can make and also define careers. With so many stars in WWE needing a kickstart for their careers, a heel turn may be the answer. With that being said, this list looks at 4 WWE stars who could benefit from a heel turn in the upcoming months.
The following matches are rumored to take place on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live:
* Kevin Owens & Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura
* Multi-woman match to determine #1 contender for Naomi at Money in the Bank.
Already confirmed for the show:
* Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch vs. Natalya and Carmella
* Shane McMahon’s Money In the Bank announcement
* New WWE Champion Jinder Mahal hosts a Punjabi Celebration
Check back here at 8PM ET for our live play-by-play coverage of tonight’s show. Also, check out Ringsidetalk.net for our live fan discussion!
Steve is the Founder of RingsideNews, AllWrestlingNews, and Wrestling dot News. He has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He first got into website development at the time and has been focusing on bringing his readers the best professional wrestling news at it’s highest quality.
They actually did it, you guys. The absolute madmen, they actually did it. Jinder Mahal beat Randy Orton at Backlash to become the WWE Champion. Not only that, but he is the 50th person to hold the title. He’s now in the same league as men like The Rock, Stone Cold, Bret Hart, and Hulk Hogan.
Meanwhile, Kevin Owens retained the US title by trapping AJ Styles’ leg in an announce table. Natalya beat Becky Lynch (no surprise there) to pick up a victory for the Welcoming Committee. Shinsuke Nakamura finally had a match. Obviously all of these have repercussions and consequences, so let’s try to figure out how the Smackdown environment will change.
Unfortunately, Tyler Breeze and Fandango were not able to pick up a win (and the Smackdown Tag Team Championship) at Backlash. They lost to the Usos, who resorted to sort of underhanded tactics to win. This “tainted” win will most likely mean that this feud is not over.
Unfortunately it really feels like the tag team division is spinning its wheels until the New Day can arrive. While they put on quite a match and won our hearts, Breezango ultimately feel like placeholder contenders to be fed to the Usos while New Day is on hold. With the Hype Bros out and American Alpha MIA (hopefully doing a hard reset), there was clearly no one else left to challenge the Usos.
This most likely means that Breezango gets one more match and then brutalized to give the Usos some heat. With the ever looming threat of the New Day hanging over the tag division, I expect the Usos will be keeping the titles warm for the them to take.
Kevin Owens barely won the match. After securing a count-out victory, Owens proclaimed that he was better than AJ Styles. Styles, of course, will not take that lying down. He will most likely demand a rematch. Not that there’s anything wrong with that as they put on a great match.
Maybe at Money in the Bank, Styles and Owens will lock horns again. Hopefully this time there will be a decisive winner. The question is, will it be AJ Styles or will Kevin Owens hold onto the gold?
Styles has just come off one of the best debut years in recent history. He debuted in a WWE Championship match, was in the main event of two pay-per-views within the first four months of his WWE career, beat John Cena clean as a whistle, and became WWE Champion. Meanwhile Kevin Owens became Universal Champion, was unable to successfully defend it without interference, and lost to Goldberg in under 30 seconds. Who needs a win more?
I feel that Owens will retain the US title, which will free up Styles to re-enter the WWE title picture. That’s already starting to look crowded, but in a good way. Meanwhile Owens can defend the title against Sami Zayn or Tye Dillinger. Both of those programs show promise.
The Welcoming Committee have firmly established their dominance over the whole division (read: six people) at Backlash by making Becky Lynch tap out to Natalya. The backlash from this? We’re about to find out.
Charlotte is still gunning after the Women’s Championship, but there are other sharks circling about. Carmella can claim a shot at the title, because she pinned Naomi. As they say, you pin the champion, you get a title match.
Natalya, however, also may have a few words to say. She won the match for her team, which means she beat Naomi and Charlotte. She beat the champion and the number one contender. Surely that boosts her standing a little? Either way, Naomi has new foes to face.
She is probably going to drop the title soon, most likely to Charlotte. Hopefully this will allow for a Becky Lynch v. Charlotte match at Summerslam where Becky can pick up the win. It’s been so long since she has won.
The million dollar question now is this: what’s going to happen to the WWE Championship? Jinder Mahal is for sure not holding onto the title for very long.
Orton was kicking his ass decisively until the Singh Brothers came along and Randy casually murdered them. Randy Orton is not someone you want as your enemy.
There’s also Rusev demanding a title shot. While he hasn’t shown up yet, surely they’ll humor him. He’s on the hunt, and right now his target is Jinder Mahal. If all goes well, Rusev will have a match at Money in the Bank.
Money in the Bank. You know, where someone gets an opportunity for a WWE Championship match anytime and anywhere? That thing? Yeah, it’s happening next month. So now the champion has to potentially deal with Randy Orton, Rusev, and Mr. Money in the Bank. It could be Baron Corbin, or Sami Zayn. Heck, it could even be Erick Rowan. This is going to be an interesting title picture for the next few months.
