WWE Money in the Bank Results – June 18, 2017

Welcome to the SmackDown-branded, Money in the Bank 2017 results!

Tonight’s PPV is an historic one because it will host the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank ladder match! The monumental match-up features Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Tamina Snuka, Carmella, and Natalya, all vying to climb the ladder and grab the contract hanging above the ring, becoming the first-ever winner in the process. Whoever wins the briefcase will get an instant title shot against the Champion.

Currently the Women’s Champion is Naomi but tonight she faces a mysterious challenger in the form of Lana. A lot of controversy has surrounded Lana’s instant push to the stars and seemingly unearned title shot – considering she has only wrestled one televised match and that was at WrestleMania 32. Lana appeased some concerns on SmackDown Live this week when she hit an impressive sit-out powerbomb, and it’s worth mentioning that the ravishing Russian has been wrestling on live events for over a year. So, do you think Naomi can retain against the unproven but unpredictable challenger? And who will win the Money in the Bank to challenge the Champion? Let us know in the comments!

Of course, there’s a second ladder match on tonight’s show, featuring six men who are willing to go through hell for a contract. AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, Shinsuke Nakamura, Baron Corbin and Sami Zayn, will battle it out tonight in one of the hardest-hitting matches in all of wrestling. Any one of these men could realistically walk out with the briefcase but Nakamura was the one left holding in on SmackDown Live this past week. Baron Corbin seems the most obvious winner but it would be great to see AJ Styles or Sami Zayn grab the briefcase and go on to cash it in for a blockbuster match, rather than when a Champion is down and hurt. John Cena did this against CM Punk in 2012, on the Raw 1000 main event, and he failed but it made for a more monumental cash-in than the typical opportunistic approach. Just some food for thought, let us know who you’d like to see walk out with the briefcase!

Hometown boy Randy Orton has a huge match tonight as he challenges the WWE Champion, Jinder Mahal! Orton and the modern-day Maharaja have been going back and forth for months now, with Jinder usually getting the upper-hand due to the numbers game. The Singh Brothers could also play a huge role in tonight’s title match but Orton will look to nullify their presence, perhaps by taking them out before or during the match, allowing him to take-on the lesser-talented Jinder one-on-one!

Elsewhere on tonight’s show, The Uso’s defend their Tag Team Championship’s against The New Day, and The Hype Bro’s face The Colon’s on the pre-show. It’s a fairly small card tonight, although that means the ladder matches will probably get plenty of time to breathe. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an episode of The Fashion Files also. Let us know all your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to check out the Ringside News app and enjoy the show!

WWE Planning Huge Segment for Sunday’s Money in the Bank Event

WWE is reportedly working on putting together a segment at Sunday’s Money in the Bank evebt that will feature several legends.

The Wrestling Observer claims that Ric Flair, Bob Orton Jr., Larry Hennig, Baron Von Raschke and Greg Gagne are all confirmed to appear on the show with Gerald Brisco, Rocky Johnson and Ted DiBiase all mentioned as possibilities.

As of this writing, we are unable to confirm the exactly specifics of the segment, but we will keep you posted if we hear anything.

WWE SmackDown Live Results – 6 June 2017

Welcome to another edition of SmackDown Live!

Tonight we have a bonafide first-time ever match-up between two huge stars: Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura! These two men are set to lock horns in the Money In The Bank ladder match in less than two weeks but tonight they get to inflict some damage and probably have a show stealer!

Also on tonight’s show, AJ Styles will face Dolph Ziggler once again – after losing last week in what was seemingly a botched finish. Dave Meltzer predicted this match would happen again tonight, in order to give AJ a win and some momentum back. The match last week was really starting to heat-up into a great affair but it ended abruptly when Ziggler superkicked AJ in the back of the head.

The New Day jumped right into the tag team title picture upon arriving on SmackDown last week. Xavier Woods, Big E, and Kofi Kingston challenged The Usos in their first appearance on the blue brand since coming over via the Superstar Shake-up. And now a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match awaits them at the Money in the Bank PPV. I expect to finally see The New Day in tag team action tonight, but will The Uso’s play fair?

The women’s Money In The Bank ladder match is also less than two weeks away, and it’s a match that has gotten a lot of people excited. However it does seemingly leave Naomi off of a PPV, having not defended her title in a while. This could really hurt the Champion as she looks to add credibility to her reign. Rumours suggest Lana might appear soon and challenge Naomi at Money in the Bank but I don’t see this happening – why would WWE promote Lana so heavily, only to have her lose her first match and fade away? Hopefully we find out tonight if Naomi will have a role at the PPV.

And then there’s Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton. The two didn’t meet physically last week, but Orton did give a good promo and Jinder appeared on the tron afterwards to annoy him. Expect things to really heat-up tonight between these two, as WWE need to add some fuel to the fire before long. That’s the preview for tonight’s show, let us know what you’re excited to see in the comments below, check out the free Ringside News app, and enjoy the show!

Where Does Rusev Go From Here?

For those of you who may not know, Rusev was set for a big match at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view. After being traded to Smackdown Live in the Superstar Shakeup, Rusev declined to show up on the brand unless he received a WWE Championship match. It looked like this was the direction WWE was going in. It would have been perfect too. Randy Orton vs. Rusev.

Orton could win in his hometown and Rusev becomes a member of Smackdown Live. However, plans changed and Jinder Mahal is the current WWE Champion. Orton gets his rematch for the belt at Money In The Bank, which leaves Rusev as the odd man out.

So where does he go from here?

There’s the obvious choice of coming out during the championship match and costing Orton the match. This would in turn set up a feud between Rusev and Orton. Rusev would look strong if he came out of this feud on top, but WWE would probably not have Orton lose two feuds in a row.

The next option would be interfering in the Money In The Bank ladder match, costing a superstar their chance at winning. It could work, but I have a better idea. Rusev should attack AJ Styles before the match, take his place in the ladder match, and capture the briefcase.

You may be questioning yourself, wondering how on earth is this a good idea? Well, let me explain. Styles is the one guy in this ladder match (besides Nakamura possibly) who really doesn’t need to be in this match. They can get a shot at the gold any day. They are both pretty expendable at this point. Styles will more than likely get a shot within the upcoming year, so having him miss out on this opportunity won’t hurt him.

If Smackdown Live wants to capitalize on the return of Rusev, then he needs to return in a big way. Keep him off of television until the night of Money in the Bank. Rusev shows up and destroys Styles, making him unable to compete in the ladder match. Shane McMahon declares Rusev as the replacement since he is the one that caused all this mess. Rusev goes on to shock the world and win the Money in the Bank contract. It’s an outcome few, if any, would expect to happen going into the event. Seeing as how Smackdown Live has been booking on the shock value as of late, this would be right up their alley.

Not only would we see Rusev return in grand force, but we would also see him thrown into a rivalry with the hottest guy in the WWE. It’s a win-win for Rusev, who hasn’t been utilized the way he should’ve been throughout his short career. Rusev has all the tools to be a mega heel, and him going against Styles would only add to it.

WWE Nixes Plans for Rusev’s Return

Plans for Rusev to return to WWE programming and go after the WWE Title have changed.

As seen on SmackDown Live a couple weeks back, WWE aired footage of Rusev saying he wanted a shot at the WWE Title at the Money in the Bank event. Rusev said he would be returning to SmackDown Live to confront Shane, which never happened and WWE hasn’t played up to that storyline at all on any of their programming.

With WWE announcing Randy Orton’s rematch for the WWE Title at the Money in the Bank event on SmackDown Live this week, it is now evident that plans have changed for Rusev and he will not be going after the Title on that show. We will keep you updated if we hear anything new regarding his return.

The Backlash from Backlash: What’s Next for Smackdown

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.

The Tag Team Division

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.

The United States Championship

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 Women’s Division

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 WWE Championship

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.

Dinner with the King Recap – Thoughts on Rip Rogers/Randy Orton Tweets, Stiff Punches, Why Does Lawler Still Work the Indies? More!

Lawler opens today’s show speaking about this past weekend’s tweets from Rip Rogers and Randy Orton. First off, he says that he’s obviously a fan of Randy Orton and his work, and he’s been a fan of Rip Rogers for years. He thinks both of those men have a point in their concerns regarding the state of indie wrestling.

He believes that the issues lie in the fact that a lot of young indie performers are trying to get their foot in the door in the wrestling business. When they have an opportunity at an indie show, they try to do whatever they can to show the promoter that they’re worth hiring again for a future show.

Lawler agrees with Rogers in the sense that there’s no ‘kayfabe’ anymore. Performers work their match, shake each other’s hands and then go on social media and thank each other for the match. Lawler’s not sure that the performers are even to blame, because it’s the way the business has developed over the last number of years.

He also points out that competitors in all other sports often shake each other’s hand after their match or game, so perhaps it’s not the most ridiculous concept for wrestlers to congratulate each other and put each other over at the end of a match or a feud.