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Tough act to follow for the blue brand... are Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan and team up for it? We start finding out tonight in Buffalo, New York.
The Headliner
SmackDown Live may have problems, but the lack of a world title ain’t one. Will we start calling it the WWE World championship again, or will it be the Galactic title in order to keep up with the one Stephanie McMahon & Mick Foley just announced for Raw?
All that’s beside the point, I suppose, because WWE champ Dean Ambrose calls Tuesday nights home. But since he proved at Battleground that not only is he the champ, but he’s the dominant member of the most dominant faction in WWE history - and since the other 2/3 of that group work on Monday nights - what’s next for the Lunatic Fringe?
With SummerSlam less than a month away and a lot of the other big names definitely (Randy Orton) or probably (John Cena & AJ Styles) tied up for that pay-per-view (PPV), they better get Dean a challenger as soon as possible.
The Title Scene
The only other title drafted to SmackDown is in a similar situation. The Miz’s Intercontinental championship bout at Battleground ended in an indecisive fashion, but Darren Young is a Raw Superstar, so the issue is basically closed anyway. Are there any A-Listers ready to challenge the Awesome One?
Other than that, Shane & DB don’t have any belts on their brand. Will they follow their rivals lead and create titles over which their ladies and tag teams can fight?
Other stuff to keep an eye on:
- Out of nowhere, jokin’ Randy Orton returned to make fun of Chris Jericho and take shots at his next PPV opponent, Brock Lesnar. Will the Viper be resting his shoulder until SummerSlam, or getting some action in between now and August 21.
- With the help of Enzo Amore & Big Cass, John Cena got his win back from AJ Styles. But now the Realest Guys, and AJ’s Club-mates Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, are on Raw. Sounds like a good way to make sure they can settle things once and for all very soon.
- She may have been a top draft pick, but Becky Lynch still needs a big win to go with that honor. Her latest betrayer, Natalya, defeated her at Battleground.
- Mojo Rawley raced to Zack Ryder’s, let’s call it “aid”, on Sunday, and since Iced Z can’t go over Rusev and the U.S. title anymore, it looks like the Hype Bros are back!
- There are also two ladies from NXT, Carmella & Alexa Bliss, fans will want to see debut, plus a sick tag team in American Alpha.
See you tonight for SmackDown!