5 things that could happen on smackdown live next week

This week’s episode of WWE SmackDown Live featured the fallout from last Sunday’s Clash of Champions PPV event. It was a very easy and quick watch (far easier to sit through the the slog of RAW this week) even though very little of importance happened.

It’s not unusual for the last few shows of the year to exist just because they have to, so that’s nothing new. It was a simple 2-hour show with nothing actively bad and a few highlights as well. Here’s what I predicted would happen on this week’s show:

- Zayn and Owens are still employed

One for one right here. In fact, Shane McMahon did indeed try to screw them over, and while Bryan didn’t side with the best friends, he did give them a somewhat cheap win by fast-counting Randy Orton’s shoulders, but it was after Shane pulled the exact stunt he did to Stone Cold Steve Austin at the 1998 Survivor Series. He didn’t hit the mat for three when the match was surely over, so Bryan did the opposite.

- Bludgeon Brothers meet up with The Ascension

After their dominating performance at Clash of Champions, I expected that it was possible that Breezango’s pals, The Ascension, might step up to get revenge for their fallen comrades, but that was not the case. As a matter of fact, none of the three teams even appeared on SmackDown Live this week.

- Rusev and English have a big celebration

Sadly, Aiden English and Rusev were unsuccessful in their bid to win tag team gold on Sunday. They didn’t have a celebration, but they did participate in a great, funny backstage segment with The New Day and had a fun, quick match later on in the show. I don’t get any points, but the stuff on SmackDown was truly a lot of fun, and shows how well both teams can do serious and comedy without becoming jokes.

- Ruby Riott becomes number 1 contender in a battle royal

I was indeed correct in my guess that the women’s Royal Rumble would be announced this week, as it happened on Monday Night RAW, and Ruby Riott was indeed involved in a match this week, but it was on the losing end of a match that saw her team with Sarah Logan against Charlotte and Naomi. How are they going to determine a challenger for Charlotte at the Rumble? Will she just go without a title match? Maybe Naomi just gets it for… well, whatever reason. We’ll see.

- Orton turns on Nakamura

This was so unbelievably unfair. I assume they ended the show a little bit too early and had to fill the extra time, but the celebratory poses after Orton, Nakamura, and Styles defeated Owens, Zayn, and Mahal went on and on for so long that I was convinced that Orton was going to nail Nakamura with an RKO out of nowhere and then glare across the ring at AJ Styles. That was just one big tease. I’m still betting that it’s going to happen, but when? Maybe the first episode of SDL in 2018.

Overall, I completely missed the mark. 1 out of 5 is the official score, but Sami and Kevin were pretty much guaranteed to keep their jobs so that was an easy point. Let’s talk about what could happen on the night-after-Christmas edition of SmackDown Live.

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#5 Gable and Benjamin get a tag team championship match

Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable beat The Usos in a non-title match

They won’t win said match, but after the stellar performance in the 4-way at Clash of Champions that saw them only moments from becoming champions, followed by their victory over The Usos in a non-title match this week, I think they have earned a shot. It’s a good match to put in the commercial-free first hour of the show.

I think Gable and Benjamin are still leaning toward becoming a heel tag team. They were going that direction for a little while and then it tapered off, but I believe that’s the goal. They will try to cheat to win after the Usos just won’t stay down, and then after the match, they may clip one of the Usos knees, just like they did to Gable on two separate occasions.

#4 Rusev defeats Big E

Rusev Claus and Snowman English celebrate too early before falling to The New Day

After he flapped the wrong jacks this week on SmackDown Live, Rusev has certainly raised the ire of The New Day’s muscle, Big E. The big man wasn’t a part of the tag match this week that saw Kofi and Xavier defeat English and Rusev, but I think they’re going to keep this pairing of teams together for a little while longer.

They may meet again in a backstage segment that leads to the match, or it will just be announced as a regular match at the top of the show, followed by New Day interrupting an early New Year’s song from Aiden English.

Rusev and Big E actually had a few really good matches early on in Rusev’s career on the main roster, back when Rusev was a big deal and completely unstoppable. Nobody really came close to giving Rusev a challenging match, but along came Big E, who did just that at Payback and Money in the Bank in 2014.

Big E didn’t win either of those matches, but they were really good and the crowd really thought he had a shot. Both men are now big stars and even better wrestlers and if given some time could put on a really great show.

#3 A tournament for the US Title is announced

Ziggler left the United States Title in the ring just two days after winning it

After Dolph Ziggler left his newly won United States Championship in the ring and walked out this week, Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon will be quick to act when it comes to finding a new champion.

If Ziggler doesn’t want the belt, that’s fine because there is a whole locker room full of guys who would love that opportunity. Since it is indeed supposed to be the “Land of Opportunity” on SmackDown Live, this is a great way to showcase that.

My expected participants: Baron Corbin, Bobby Roode, Zack Ryder, Mojo Rawley, Tye Dillinger, Sin Cara, Rusev, and a returning Mike Kanellis.

#2 Six-Way women’s match, loser is out of the Rumble

Charlotte and Naomi stand tall after defeating two-thirds of the Riott Squad

I’m going way out on a limb here, but this is a really intriguing idea for me. Since there are too few women on the roster to do any qualifying matches to gain entry into the Rumble match, why not do the opposite? RAW has 10 active women, not including the champion, Alexa Bliss, all of whom will surely be in the match.

SmackDown has 7, technically speaking, or 8 if you count Becky Lynch, but for the sake of argument we aren’t counting Becky. Plus with Natalya’s comments at Clash of Champions, she will be out of the picture for a little while as well. That means, excluding the champion, Charlotte, SD Live has 6 active female competitors (Lana doesn’t count).

In order to make it an even 15 for the Rumble match (leaving 5 spots open for surprises, returns, or NXT stars), one woman can’t make the cut. So do a six-way, one fall match with Naomi, Tamina, Carmella, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riott, and Sarah Logan in which the woman who takes the pinfall or taps out loses her opportunity to get into the Royal Rumble match. Maybe even give the winner the coveted final spot?

Either way, Carmella ends up taking the fall, which just fuels the fire for her. She still holds the MITB contract so she can get a title shot at any time, but she hates the fact that she won’t be part of the historic match. It can be a great opportunity for her character to grow. I know this is a gigantic long shot and is about 1% likely to happen, but I think it would be a great story.

#1 Shane McMahon tries to find a way to keep Owens and Zayn out of the Rumble

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn enter the arena before their match on SD Live

Speaking of the Royal Rumble match, after failing to take the jobs of his arch nemeses away from them at Clash of Champions, Shane McMahon is still out for blood. He will look for a way to exclude one or both of them from this year’s Royal Rumble match. He may not come up with the answer this week, but the story will begin.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see him force Owens and Zayn to face each other, with only the winner getting a spot in the match. That way, even though it is giving one of the men an opportunity to main event WrestleMania, it’s taking that chance away from the other and hopefully causing a big rift between the volatile friends-turned enemies-turned friends. It makes sense.