WWE replaces Hardy’s match and announces top Raw tag team for SmackDown

With today’s news of Jeff Hardy being released by WWE, I’ve been wondering what kind of scrambling is going on behind the scenes to put together tomorrow night’s (Dec. 10) episode of SmackDown given Hardy was originally announced for a match against Happy Corbin.

We already know that Xia Li is set to debut on SmackDown, and Naomi will square off against Sonya Deville. WWE’s web site has now revealed two more segments for the card.

First up is Charlotte Flair vs. Toni Storm in a “Championship Contender” match. That’s WWE’s fancy way of saying it’s a non title match that guarantees nothing regardless of who wins and loses. We’ll have to see if any pies are involved in the finish of that one, since pie-throwing is the centerpiece of their feud.

WWE’s web site also lists a triple threat match between the New Day, the Usos (the SmackDown tag team champions), and RK-Bro (the Raw tag team champions). Randy Orton and Matt Riddle are stars on the Raw brand, of course, so I guess this will end up being a brand-to-brand invitation, or whatever WWE’s latest rule for subverting the draft rosters happens to be. This will be Riddle’s third WWE television show of the week. I don’t think any of the titles are on the line, because WWE says the teams are fighting over the right to be called the best. Didn’t RK-Bro already prove they are the best when they beat the Usos at Survivor Series just a few weeks ago?

The Staples Center in Los Angeles is the venue for SmackDown tomorrow night, and they announced a month ago that Brock Lesnar was going to buy a ticket for the show. That angle isn’t necessary now that his suspension is lifted, but WWE hasn’t announced anything specific that he’ll be doing tomorrow night.

What do you think of the SmackDown lineup, Cagesiders?