5 bets for Sin City SmackDown Live in Las Vegas

This coming Tuesday night, September 12th, SmackDown Live comes to Las Vegas, Nevada in what is basically being treated as a special episode of the show.

While technically just a normal edition instead of something like a draft or a King of the Ring special, whenever WWE comes to Sin City, they always try to kick it up a notch and this week is no stranger to that idea.

Three of SmackDown's four titles are on the line (all save for Jinder Mahal's WWE Championship) and there will even be an appearance from the chairman of the board himself, Mr. McMahon!

In a town known for gambling, what are the best bets we can make as far as predictions go for what is about to happen on the next SmackDown Live show?

Here's a breakdown of some of the things to look forward to come Tuesday night.

#5 Dolph Ziggler Will Hate Las Vegas

Over the past few weeks, Dolph Ziggler has made it a point to vent his frustrations that he's sick and tired of all the attention certain wrestlers are getting over him just because they happen to implement more "entertainment" aspects of their performances rather than purely in-ring skills.

He has a bone to pick with things like flashy entrances such as Naomi's blacklight glow show and the colorful costumes Macho Man Randy Savage used to wear.

There's absolutely no way Ziggler will be in a city known primarily for bright lights, distracting neon signs, an exorbitant amount of color and a needless overabundance of glitz without calling Las Vegas out for being the epitome of what's wrong with entertainment.

Just how he chastises the crowd and WWE in general for this will depend on the particular wording of his promo, but he will definitely take some time out of the show to express his dissatisfaction that he happens to be in a town that pretty much stands for everything that is problematic and that he wants to change.

Ideally, this could also be coupled with a grandiose entrance for Bobby Roode, as The Glorious One could make fantastic use out of his boisterous robe and the crowd's pop to be a thorn in Ziggler's side, kickstarting a feud between the two which will be much more advantageous for Roode than whatever he's doing with Mike Kanellis.

Somehow, in some way, Ziggler isn't going to be happy with being in Las Vegas, but by the end of the night, it seems as though SmackDown will be a good enough show that the crowd will be in good spirits nonetheless.

#4 SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

SmackDown tag team title match — The Usos vs. The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship

The first title match to talk about is something we've seen quite a bit of over the past few months as The Usos and The New Day will once again be clashing to decide who reigns supreme over the tag team division.

This time around, their confrontation will be a Street Fight, which is just one of the near infinite variations of titling WWE likes to use for a generic No Disqualification match.

It will be interesting to see if Xavier Woods gets in on the action since he will assuredly be ringside—that is, of course, unless there's an angle done earlier in the night where he's attacked backstage or something that puts him out of commission for the match itself.

Since he just recently suffered an injury, though, the safer bet is to imagine that Big E and Kofi Kingston will be holding down the fort for their team and that the lack of Woods participating may not even be all that much of a hindrance, either.

It's been reported recently that WWE's mindset behind The New Day is to get them to a spot where they are not just the longest ever reigning tag team champions in the company's history, but that they also will break the record for the most amount of title reigns, surpassing the likes of The Dudley Boyz, The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian and other legendary teams.

Given this consideration and how strange it would be for no titles to change hands on this card, the easiest call to make as far as new champions being crowned is to place your bets that The New Day will be victorious and recapture the tag titles here.

#3 United States Championship Match

Unfortunately for Tye Dillinger, the potential for the tag titles to change hands is just one of the many reasons why the United States Championship will be staying right where it's at on AJ Styles' waist.

It's great to see the United States Open Challenge being used in a way that can help benefit someone like The Perfect 10, who hasn't been given his fair shot since moving up to the main roster. Getting a title opportunity here against Styles is a nice compensation for the lack of a push in the more recent months.

However, Dillinger is a sacrificial lamb. He may have a great match and there could even be a few times where it's close enough that the fans start to wonder if Styles will drop the belt, but the bigger story being told here is between The Phenomenal One and The Lone Wolf.

Not only can you place a confident bet that Dillinger will not win the United States Championship on Tuesday night, but you can also double down on the notion that Baron Corbin will be making some kind of an appearance in relation to this match.

Whether it's causing an interference during the match that possibly results in a disqualification or a no-contest, or Corbin waits until after everything is said and done before attacking either or both of them, there's absolutely no way this is a simple match that ends clean with the two shaking hands and moving on to the next segment.

Corbin will do something to further the storyline between he and Styles, which will lead to a title match between the two at Hell in a Cell on October 8th.

#2 SmackDown Women's Championship Match

smackdown women's title match — Natalya vs. Naomi for the SmackDown Women's Championship

The tag team title match and the United States title match are pretty easy picks, but there aren't as many guarantees when it comes to the SmackDown Women's Championship bout.

This is Naomi's built-in rematch since dropping the title to Natalya at SummerSlam, which at first makes me think it's a pretty obvious retention on Nattie's behalf.

In the grand scheme of things, WWE rarely has someone win the title back right after losing it, and since we just saw that happen between Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss, I doubt they'll do that again so soon.

However, that doesn't mean Natalya is assured to leave SmackDown with the title in her possession.

A bigger looming threat is Carmella's Money in the Bank contract and the possibility that she may cash in at some point in the evening.

The tenuous relationship between The Princess of Staten Island and James Ellsworth is something to keep your eye on, as this may be an indicator of impending success or doom, depending on what story WWE wants to tell.

They quickly rekindled their partnership last week, to a certain extent, but things are still somewhat estranged between the two and if they are doing this Carmella's way from now on, what does that entail?

Since Baron Corbin failed in his cash-in attempt, it's a smart bet that Carmella won't suffer the same problem, but whether or not that happens here on this particular show or somewhere else down the line is what really has to be called into question.

Instead of having a 50/50 shot at leaving SmackDown with the title, Natalya is just one of three women who could walk away with the belt by the end of the night and you may want to press your luck by hedging your bets with a second wager on Carmella, too.

#1 The Kevin Owens and Vince McMahon Situation

In the opening segment of this past episode of SmackDown, the tension between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon boiled over after Owens spoke ill of Shane's family, saying they would have been better off if he had not survived his helicopter crash.

Shane lost it, attacking Owens and prompting him to threaten to sue WWE to bring it down, which was a call to action for the head honcho to step in to mediate things.

At the moment, Shane is indefinitely suspended and Vince McMahon will address the situation personally with an appearance on SmackDown.

Of course, we know that whenever Mr. McMahon steps in front of the cameras, it isn't going to be something as simple as him apologizing to Owens and sweeping this under the rug before wishing everyone in the crowd a happy rest of the program.

This will somehow lead into the next phase of the story between Owens and Shane which seems to point to a Hell in a Cell match the two will have come the October 8th pay-per-view, particularly as the Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jinder Mahal match hasn't been announced as taking place in the cage.

Granted, Vince may not directly announce this on SmackDown, and this could even be a different scenario where Owens attacks Vince out of anger and Shane gets reinstated that way, fighting on his behalf, but the safer bet is to go with the simpler option.

My guess is we'll see some showboating to the crowd from Mr. McMahon before he simply states that the Hell in a Cell match will take place and that the two of them can't touch each other beforehand so we don't see them clash on the next few episodes of SmackDown leading up to the event.