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A WWE Superstar recently made a bold claim ahead of an important match scheduled for the upcoming episode of SmackDown.
The name in question is Santos Escobar. The former LWO member sent shockwaves through the wrestling world during the November 10 episode of SmackDown as he attacked WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio, who is currently recovering from knee surgery. Escobar later stated that he was not happy with Mysterio's decision to let Carlito join the group, to set up a match against the latter at Survivor Series: WarGames 2023.
Unfortunately, Carlito got injured before the premium live event and had to be replaced by Dragon Lee. Escobar and Lee put on a great match in Chicago that saw the former emerge victorious. But the rivalry between the two is far from over, as Dragon Lee rushed in to save Joaquin Wilde from an assault from Santos last week on SmackDown.
The two are scheduled to lock horns tonight as part of the United States Championship tournament. On the previous edition of the blue brand, Logan Paul made his first appearance on the show since winning the United States Championship. The Maverick announced an eight-man tournament to determine the number one contender for his title.
Santos Escobar took to his Instagram account to share a reel posted by WWE. In the video, the former LWO member could be seen making a championship belt gesture around his waist. He would be hoping to repeat his performance from the Chicago premium live event and score a win against Dragon Lee to move ahead in the tournament:
"Will @escobarwwe get one step closer to a #USTitle opportunity? Find out TONIGHT on #SmackDown Tribute to the Troops!,"
You can watch the Instagram reel below:
Elsewhere, Bobby Lashley will take on Karrion Kross in another tournament match scheduled for tonight's SmackDown episode. It will be interesting to see which superstar comes out on top and earns an opportunity to take on Logan Paul for the United States Championship.
Bill Apter believes Kevin Owens will win the WWE United States Championship tournament
Other than the four names discussed earlier, Grayson Waller, Austin Theory, Kevin Owens, and a mystery participant from NXT will compete in the tournament.
Veteran journalist Bill Apter believes that Kevin Owens is going to win the tournament and face Logan Paul for the Championship. He also talked about the SmackDown segment featuring Owens and Paul:
"Look, the bottom line here is they have got a guy who is face to face with tonight, Kevin Owens, KO. Which, by the way, when he gave that knockout punch to Austin Theory and five seconds later Theory was up helping Grayson Waller, that bothered me. But here you've got a guy from Canada, KO, who's probably going to challenge for the US title. They are telegraphing it," revealed Bill Apter.
Who do you think will win the tournament? Sound off in the comments section below.
