The build to this PPV has been quite long and, honestly, a bit underwhelming. I have very low expectations heading into this Sunday but hopefully the WWE can find a way to under hype and over deliver for once.
PRE-SHOW
Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin v The Hype Bros: The newly formed version of the World's Greatest Tag Team has been quite exciting to watch so far but I'm a little concerned that they've spent a lot of time showcasing Benjamin instead of Gable. Shelton is at the tail end of his career so one would think the WWE would use him to help push along the younger Chad Gable but so far that isn't the case. The Hype Bros have been teasing either a heel turn or a break up for the last few weeks and all signs point towards a loss here for Mojo and Ryder. This match should be fun but will end with a clean and decisive win for Gable and Benjamin.
SKIT
Fashion Files: Instead of diving right into the actual card I figured I would take a minute and talk about the Fashion Files. The first few "episodes" of this were exceptional and quite clever but this skit jumped the shark several weeks back. You can only promise a conclusion to an angle and then fail to deliver so many times before people stop caring.
I have officially stopped caring.
Originally I thought this would turn out to be Harper & Rowan but rumors are now that it'll be the Authors of Pain getting their NxT call-ups.
Maybe this week they'll actually provide an answer to the "who done it" storyline .... or maybe the won't. Honestly, it doesn't really matter and this is a waste of PPV space. It really just furthers my previous point of this show being very underwhelming on paper.
Randy Orton v Rusev: Hopefully this is a program that helps return Rusev back to the mid-title belt scene in the near future. Orton's career is starting to wind down and this should be a great time for him to put over a young star such as Rusev. If pushed correctly, Rusev has the look, the mic skills and the in ring work to be a great US title contender. That being said, the WWE has proven time and time again that they love them some RKO and they have little to no interest in pushing Rusev, so I fully expect Orton to win here which would be extremely disappointing.
Bobby Roode v Dolph Ziggler: As I stated a couple weeks back, this whole "flashy entrance" gimmick that Ziggler had been doing was clearly leading to a match up with Roode down the line. This could easily be the match that steal the show, which is something Dolph has been known to do on PPVs over the course of his career.
Roode will win but I expect this match to be a great back and forth effort with several close pin fall attempts and some really good actual wrestling. Ziggler, like the aforementioned Rusev, has had so many ups and downs within the company over the last few years and I fear that his best years were wasted due to injuries. Roode is no spring chicken but the WWE seemingly believes in him at this stage in his career more than they do Dolph.
Baron Corbin v AJ Styles (c) US Title: Typically when someone loses on the "go-home" show, like Corbin did, they win on the PPV. I would really hate to see AJ drop the belt here but part of me thinks that they will give the belt to Corbin and return the US title to a mid-card level and then go back to pushing Styles into the main event scene.
I expect some shenanigans, I wouldn't be shocked to see Dillinger get involved but I think that somehow/someway that Corbin walks away with the title here.
Hopefully this gets the belt off of AJ and allows him to win the Royal Rumble this year and challenge the WWE champion at next year's WrestleMania.
Charlotte Flair v Natalya (c) Women's Title: This is one of the matches on the card that I am just not sure about. Charlotte will get the belt in the near future, without a doubt, but I just am not sure it makes much sense to take the belt off of Natalya this early into her reign. For me, right now, this is a literal coin toss but one thing I'm sure of is they won't let Charlotte lose clean.
If Natalya retains I expect it to be by DQ or interference, likely by Carmella.
Do I think Charlotte is the best person on SmackDown to be champ? No. Not at all. That being said, with all of the rumors swirling of a Rousey v Charlotte at next year's WrestleMania then it simply makes sense for her to obtain the belt before then.
This match, and I hope I'm wrong, will likely be one that should've been saved for a SmackDown Live show but hopefully they are able to do enough to not embarrass themselves on the PPV.
The Usos v The New Day (c) SmackDown Tag Team Titles: This has been one of the best feuds going for the Blue Brand and this match will likely continue that trend. These two teams doing battle inside Hell in a Cell may be something special.
The Usos have done a fantastic job of transitioning to heels and the New Day continue to do their goofy acts that the younger fans absolutely adore.
The in-ring work between these two teams has also been quite good so it keeps the "smarks" coming back for more too.
Unfortunately, at some point, there has to be another contender for the titles and I simply don't see anyone on the current roster, other than maybe Gable/Benjamin, that could be pushed into the title scene that makes sense.
I believe the New Day retains here for a couple of reasons. First off, the belt has bounced back and forth so much recently that they NEED to keep it on someone for a bit so that the championship can regain some integrity and meaning. Secondly, the only team that I can think of that makes sense to enter the title picture after this show would be the former NxT champions: The Authors of Pain.
I could see the AoP destroying Breezango early in the show and then come out after the title match concludes to leave the champions laying in the middle of the ring.
Nakamura v Jinder Mahal (c) WWE Championship: Please, please, please let this be the end of the Jinder experiment. It's not working.
I truly understand why they put the belt on him initially but the numbers aren't increasing as much as they'd hoped in the India markets and the fans are growing VERY tired (and bored) of Mahal.
Not only as the WWE Championship become an obsolete belt recently, but management has done such a poor job of establishing Nakamura as a star that they are really on the verge of ruining his character (see Bayley).
Nakamura NEEDS to win the belt here to help push him up to the level that he deserves and Jinder should move back down the card a little as they continue to try and get his character polished and cleaned up a bit more.
If Shinsuke does indeed win Sunday I could fully see him holding the belt until WrestleMania where he faces his New Japan foe: AJ Styles.
Shane McMahon v Kevin Owens: There has been a lot of talk in the last week of KO getting shipped to RAW soon.
This would be a HUGE loss (and mistake) for SmackDown.
Owens is really starting to hit his stride as the heel character that he played in ROH and is showing the world just how good he can be as a "bad guy".
In a dream world, this match plays out pretty simple. Lots of back and forth. Shane does something crazy. Most importantly, Owens beats McMahon down to the point that the match has to be stopped by the official.
After the match is called, KO continues to pummel Shane until he can no longer defend himself and the locker room empties and pulls him off.
This all leads to Tuesday night where Owens comes out and talks about getting rid of Shane, getting rid of Vince, and how the WWE is now his.
Obviously there is one part of the family left that he hasn't had to come face to face with yet.
HHH.
HHH v Owens at the Royal Rumble.
I would much rather see KO running around like SmackDown is "his show now" until he's confronted by Daniel Bryan, leading to Bryan's in-ring return, but that is starting to look like it will not happen in the WWE, so I'll settle for HHH.
