From the Raiders future home to their current one, WWE brings their Tuesday shows to Oakland, CA this week.
The Headliners
We still haven’t received an update on how Chairman Vince McMahon is doing after Kevin Owens headbutted him bloody before kicking and frog splashing him into some damaged ribs. Probably because the 70 year old just went to the gym and started working out and writing this week’s Raw instead of talking to a doctor.
What we will get is some follow-up from that shocking scene, and the match Mr. McMahon made before it went down - Hell in a Cell between KO and Shane O’Mac at next month’s pay-per-view (PPV) - when the younger McMahon addressed what happened to his pops.
TOMORROW NIGHT @AJStylesOrg defends the #USTitle against @BaronCorbinWWE on #SDLive at 8/7c on @USA_Network! pic.twitter.com/3hbX8JmM07
— WWE (@WWE) September 19, 2017
He finally gave Tye Dillinger a fair shot, but it didn’t lead to a perfect ending for The Perfect Ten. In fact, it didn’t work out so great for United States champ AJ Styles, either. Because the man who kept messing with Dillinger as he tried to answer The Phenomenal One’s open challenge ran in to almost cost AJ the title, and even after Styles got Tye to tap, both men took a beating from The Lone Wolf. After delivering End of Days onto the floor, Corbin informed the champ he was answering the challenge this week.
The Title Scene
In the latest great match in a feud that’s been full of them, Big E and Kofi Kingston won The New Day’s fourth Tag team championship in a street fight with The Usos. After some twerking on the Las Vegas strip, it’s time to get back to business... which will probably include one more rematch with Jimmy and Jey. For once, we’re not complaining about that clause in the contracts, though. Actually, according to the official preview for this show, they’ll still be celebrating! Business next week, I guess.
Speaking of those, Naomi came up short in her rematch against Women’s titleholder Natalya - thanks in part to the involvement of Ms. Money in the Bank, Carmella. It’s not clear what’s next for the current or previous champ, but Natty will have to keep her eyes on Carm. Especially now that she’s holding the leash in her relationship with friend-who-is-a-boy, James Ellsworth. Tonight, she’ll do that by holding a “Celebration of Women”... which sounds good, but coming from a heel champ, probably is all about the Queen of Harts.
The only belt which wasn’t defended on the blue brand’s Sin City Spectacular last week was WWE champions Jinder Mahal’s. But The Maharajah did get to do a stand-up routine about his challenger at Hell in a Cell, Shinsuke Nakamura. So, that’s good? He’ll respond to allegations he crossed the line, which means more talking, so... even better?
Other stuff to keep an eye on:
- Breezango had some time off to go deal with fashion crimes on the cruiserweight show, but the tag division kept busy with another big win for the new duo of Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable. It came at the expense of the Hype Bros - and it looks like Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley might be about to become a former duo.
- One person who’s glad SmackDown won’t be turning into “The Kevin Owens Show” is his mortal enemy, Sami Zayn. The Artiste Aiden English is probably bummed, though, since Shane and Daniel Bryan won’t be using the new theme song he wrote now.
- For a guy who couldn’t care less, Dolph Ziggler spends a lot of times perfecting other people’s entrances.
- Rusev is not a loser! And to get back on top of the WWE mountain, he’s planning on breaking a legend. That’s probably Randy Orton, which... wow, what goes around comes around, huh?
- Bobby Roode and The Kanelli still work here, we think.
Three weeks until Hell in a Cell!
What will you be looking for on SmackDown Live tonight?