5 things that could happen on SmackDown Live after Royal Rumble 2018

Just like last week, WWE pulled out a really enjoyable episode of SmackDown Live leading into the Royal Rumble. Last week’s show was geared almost completely toward concluding the United States Championship tournament, but this week was back to normal with a very strong push for the Royal Rumble PPV this Sunday. Unlike RAW, in which the Rumble was barely mentioned, SmackDown attempted to make people care about the show, and pushed it fairly hard.

They focused mostly on the WWE Title match and gave the Tag Title match and women’s Rumble some love while not doing a lot geared toward the men’s Rumble. That was somewhat disappointing, but the wrestling on the show was solid and they paid attention to the fact that there’s an important show on Sunday, so that’s forgiven. So what were the predictions I made for this week, and how did I do?

- One big old fashioned roster-wide brawl

I’m going to give myself half a point on this one because while the entire roster didn’t brawl (as I said above, they did a minimal build for the match itself), the women did indeed have a melee that involved almost all of them getting tossed over the top rope. I also said last week that I was hoping that they wouldn’t do an all-out brawl because I’m not a big fan of them, so I’m glad it didn’t happen. It would have been cool if the men and women brawled at the same time, but otherwise, I wouldn’t be jazzed about it.

- 10-woman tag team match

I’m taking half a point on this one, too. It was a one-on-one match with Naomi and Liv Morgan, but the locker room emptied after the match and they all ended up fighting anyway, and I did say that I expected that to happen.

- Shane & Daniel Bryan go back to bickering again to start the show

I was glad to see that there was minimal bickering this week and that the conflict that they did have ended up taking a backseat to the actual matches that will be happening on Sunday. I was right that AJ, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn would be in the opening segment, but my prediction was that it would definitely be Shane and Bryan with the other three likely to appear. The quick backstage altercation the Commissioner and GM were part of was exactly what it should have been.

Quick and to the point. Shane questioned Bryan’s judgment, which Bryan took offense to, and then Shane questioned Bryan’s ability to be able to competently do his job. It only took two minutes to do instead of 15 and had the exact same impact so I’m glad to be wrong.

- Gable or Benjamin against an Uso

Finally! After multiple weeks of predicting this one, it happened! Chad Gable and Jey Uso had a really enjoyable TV match that saw Chad pick up a big win with the Chaos Theory rolling German suplex. I hope they make that his finishing move. It’s a good move and one of my favorites. The 2 out of 3 falls match on Sunday has a lot of potential to be an extremely good match.

- Orton hits an RKO on Nakamura during the brawl

It didn’t happen during a big brawl (again, I’m glad there wasn’t one although my idea was pretty cool), but I am giving myself full credit for this because Orton did indeed hit Nakamura with an RKO out of nowhere, and it was not a heel turn. A possible prelude to a turn, sure, but this was just Orton sending a message to the man that he has teamed with on a number of occasions that he has to be prepared because Sunday it will be every man for himself.

The RKO out of nowhere was unexpected and awesome, too, which was a big bonus. I’m really hoping that Nakamura and Orton feud at some point this year. I’d like to see Nakamura win the Rumble and eliminate Orton (either last or just in general) before Orton does fully turn heel and challenge Nakamura for the #1 Contendership at the Fastlane PPV. We shall see what happens.

Overall, I was 3 for 5 this time, just like I was for RAW. My two best sets of predictions yet! I’m so proud of myself. This week will be another edition of predicting what could happen on the first SD Live after a PPV, so it could be interesting. Let’s get to it.

---

#5 Charlotte cuts a promo on Ronda Rousey

The Women's Champion addresses her possible challengers

I am praying that I am wrong about this one, but I’m going to go ahead and make the prediction anyway. The speculation is extremely strong that Ronda Rousey is going to be in the Rumble match, and in my eyes, it got even stronger when Triple H openly denied it this week during a conference call. With Stephanie McMahon on commentary for the match (ugh), it’s possible that instead of having Rousey win, they might be setting up a confrontation between them that could lead to something at WrestleMania (double ugh), which would allow a different, more deserving woman to win.

I will not be holding my breath, however, and I am preparing for the worst. I guess both of those scenarios are both terrible, at least to me -- but I will be watching the women’s Rumble with the expectation that Rousey will be there, and that she will either win or have an altercation with Stephanie that makes her lose. That way, if neither of those things happens, the match will be that much better for me, and I’ll be happy. Things tend to be better when you go in with low expectations, and I definitely am thanks to this.

#4 Gable and Benjamin defend and retain their titles in a rematch

Chad Gable defeated Jey Uso on SD Live this week

My belief is that the next chapter in this story will see Gable and Benjamin become new SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions. With the legal situation pending after Jimmy Uso’s arrest, it gives me all the more reason to believe that they won’t be keeping the titles after Sunday, but that was what I was expecting anyway.

In one last effort before we possibly don’t see the Usos on TV for a while (I could be wrong about that), Jimmy and Jey will immediately invoke their rematch clause on SmackDown. The new champions will retain their titles in what will surely be another really good match, and the reign of Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin will begin.

#3 Extremely disappointing women’s action

The women of SmackDown Live brawl ahead of this weekend's Royal Rumble event

I said I’m going to keep this up, and I will. I hope I’m wrong, as always. If my prediction of Ronda Rousey winning the Rumble is correct, then things are about to get very boring for the rest of the women on SmackDown. I mean, more boring than they already are. I guess it’s possible that they may try to set up a short feud so Charlotte can defend her title at Fastlane before taking on Rousey at WrestleMania, but they might forego another Charlotte title defense in order to make sure that they don’t put any doubt in peoples’ minds that the match would be anything other than this one.

Also, even if Rousey doesn’t win (and God I hope she doesn’t), chances are we STILL end up with some sort of multi-woman cluster of a match. If you can’t tell, I don’t have much confidence in how the women are being booked on both RAW and SmackDown and I do not expect it to improve because the whole “movement” or “revolution” or “evolution” or whatever buzzword they are using for it is just a bunch of hype anyway.

#2 Jinder Mahal is announced as Bobby Roode’s first US Title challenger

Bobby Roode nails Jinder Mahal with a spinebuster this week on SD Live

I don’t know if he will win a match to earn the title opportunity or if he’ll just complain about being forced to wrestle two matches in one night while being unprepared to do so, but Mahal is likely to be the first challenger for Roode’s new title.

Unlike many people, I actually enjoyed their match last week in the tournament final, and I would be open to seeing a rematch. As long as Roode retains the gold, I’m cool with him getting a strong win over a (somewhat) credible opponent before he gears up to defend his title at WrestleMania, against Rusev, hopefully.

#1 Nakamura and AJ Styles face off but Orton interrupts

Randy Orton nails Shinsuke Nakamura with an RKO out of absolutely nowhere

After Randy Orton FINALLY hit Shinsuke Nakamura with an RKO this week, the wheels are now moving for his heel turn. I am picking Nakamura to win the Royal Rumble match and I do believe we are going to get to see him challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Title at WrestleMania. They need to do something in the meantime, and this can mean one of three things: Orton gets himself a title shot one-on-one at Fastlane, they do a triple threat match at Fastlane, or Styles sits out of the show altogether and Orton challenges Nakamura for the number one contender’s spot.

That final scenario is the one I have been hoping to see for quite a while now. Orton and Nakamura have only been teaming together out of necessity. They aren’t friends. Shane McMahon has just forced them to team with each other a bunch of times over the last few months and being good employees, they have done what was asked of them. That’s over now that there’s a WWE Title opportunity at stake, and Orton is done playing nice. It all makes perfect sense, and I really hope that’s where they go.

---

Send us news tips at [email protected]