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Tonight's episode of SmackDown was filmed on Tuesday night in Kansas City. We've got a spoiler report for you here. If you just want to get ready for the show without knowing who wins and loses, read on!
The Headliner(s)
Ding dong, the Mitch is dead. Looks like Chris Jericho has successfully gotten away with both herbacide and talk show theft (the latter with an assist from Raw co-in-charge-person Stephanie McMahon). Dean Ambrose is nursing a sore noggin and the Ambrose Asylum is no more. Tonight features the return of the Highlight Reel.
Y2J's first guest on his renewed kayfabe show is also the man who appeared on a recent edition of his shoot podcast, Talk is Jericho. This interview should have a lot more to do with Sami Zayn's desire to put Kevin Owens in a coffin than visiting cemetaries on the road.
Plus, WWE has announced that SmackDown's main event will build off of Raw's - and Sunday's Payback, too. Those Good Brothers Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows haven't been able to stay out of the Usos business since they first showed up in WWE. After both teams got involved in Roman Reigns and AJ Styles' match at the pay-per-view (PPV) in Chicago, they battled in six-man action on Monday.
The trio of friends from New Japan emerged victorious, but chaos still ruled the day when AJ refused to attack Roman with a chair, and ended up getting powerbombed through an announce table for his trouble.
On Thursday, we're only supposed to get a tag match between Anderson & Gallows and Jimmy & Jey, but don't count on Styles and Reigns being away for long.
The Title Scene
The focus of the WWE World Heavyweight title scene will be on that tag match, as champ Roman and challenger AJ both a two dogs in that fight.
Likewise, look for action in the Intercontinental championship picture to spin out of the Highlight Reel. Cesaro lost his title match to Miz thanks to Zayn and Owens rivalry, and the Swiss Superman's match with KO to decide the next challenger went to a no-contest due to interference from first the Awesome and then the Likeable One.
We know who will next compete against Kalisto for his United States belt, and that's Rusev, who won a battle royal for the right on Raw. He's squaring off on SD against the last man he eliminated from that match, Zack Ryder.
Women's champ Charlotte got some news she didn't like from Steph... Natalya gets another title opportunity at Extreme Rules, and it's a submission match, and Ric Flair is banned from ringside. While the Nature Girl makes a plan to win without the Dirtiest Player in the Game, she teams with Emma tonight against Natty and Becky Lynch.
Enzo Amore's concussion handed the #1 contendership to the Vaudevillains, so Tag Team titleists The New Day know their next opponents, too. But Big Cass isn't looking to make it easy for Aiden English & Simon Gotch, especially after they started bragging about taking out Zo. Tonight, the 'Villains get the Social Outcasts.
Other stuff to keep an eye on:
- With Shane and Steph co-running Raw, who's in charge of SmackDown?
- There's some stuff going on with Goldust, R-Truth, Fandango and Tyler Breeze which will probably get time.
- Epico and Primo spit in the face of people who don't love Puerto Rico.
(Note: I know some folks have come looking for a more definitive match listing - that will be posted behind spoiler text in the comments. If WWE.com releases more information on anything that's officially going to take place on tonight's show, that'll be updated here)