Big Match & Segment Announced for SmackDown Live
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Welcome to our SmackDown Live results, less than a week away from WWE Battleground!
WWE Champion Jinder Mahal brings the Punjabi Prison structure to SmackDown Live! It’s been a decade since we’ve had a Punjabi Prison match in WWE, so I’m curious to see if the structure itself will have changed at all. It’s unclear what Mahal will do with the Prison but Randy Orton is scheduled to return on tonight’s SmackDown!
The main event for tonight’s SmackDown Live gives us a preview to two of Battleground’s biggest matches as AJ Styles teams with Shinsuke Nakamura to face Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin. SmackDown Live has unfortunately been featuring quite a few tag matches recently, which always feels like lazy booking, but I expect these four guys to put on a heck of a match. Sparks should fly between the combatants as Owens faces Styles for the US Championship in less than a week, and Corbin also faces Nakamura at the PPV.
We get a big in-ring debut on tonight’s SmackDown Live, which sees Mike Kanellis take on Sami Zayn. For weeks Sami has unintentionally crashed the romance between Mike and Maria Kanellis, which led to Mike finally bursting last week and smashing a glass over Sami’s head. I figured this match would be kept until Battleground but we’re getting it tonight, which will probably end in a no contest or some form of screwy finish that leads to a Battleground rematch.
And finally, The Fashion Police will take one step closer to finding out who was behind their attacks, and John Cena is set for a sit-down interview ahead of his Flag Match with Rusev! Are you excited for the show? Let us know on the free Ringside News and Ringside Talk apps, and enjoy the show!
The following card is being rumored for the upcoming SmackDown-brand WWE Battleground event:
Punjabi Prison Match for the WWE Championship
Jinder Mahal (C) vs. Randy Orton
Tag Team match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships
The New Day (C) vs. The Usos
WWE the United States Championship
Kevin Owens (C) vs. AJ Styles
SmackDown Women’s Championship
Lana vs. Naomi
Rusev vs. John Cena
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin
Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis
WWE Battleground takes place on July 23rd from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. As always, we will be providing live play-by-play coverage of the event.
WWE is advertising Jinder Mahal defending the WWE Title against Shinsuke Nakamura for upcoming WWE Live Events for the SmackDown Live brand in July.
Randy Orton is not scheduled for these events, so it’s very possible that Nakamura could be filling in for Orton. We will keep you updated.
The hype behind the upcoming Backlash pay-per-view is thanks to one man, Shinsuke Nakamura. He arrived on the Smackdown Live brand two nights after Wrestlemania. He has been involved in promos and a lot of loud fan chants, but has yet to have a single match. That changes on Sunday when he takes on the Show-Off, Dolph Ziggler.
Now the potential behind this match is beyond belief. Ziggler is one of the best performers in the company regardless of his win-loss record. Putting a talent like him against someone as gifted as Nakamura is going to be magic. Most people are expecting Nakamura to win the bout, as they should. With the way Nakamura has been promoted, it wouldn’t make any sense for him to lose his very first match on the main roster to a mid-card heel who is floundering around.
Or would it?