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What’s the story?
According to a PWInsider ELITE report, WWE SummerSlam 2017's kickoff show is possibly set to feature a couple of important tag team matches from both the Raw and SmackDown Live brands. The Hardyz vs. The Club as well as New Day vs. The Usos are rumored to be scheduled for the pre-show broadcast.
In case you didn’t know…
SummerSlam is one of WWE's biggest shows of the year, only behind WrestleMania and possibly Royal Rumble in importance. The major matches announced as of now include Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship as well as a massive Fatal 4-Way for Brock Lesnar's Universal Championship. It's one of the few cards that gets a special 7 pm EST start time, which means that the kickoff show will be two hours long.
The heart of the matter
On Raw, The Hardyz were originally building toward a match against The Revival at SummerSlam. Now that Scott Dawson is injured, Matt & Jeff are expected to face Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson in their place on the kickoff show. The Good Brothers were already staying physically involved with these teams before Dawson's injury, so it's no stretch to now insert them into the role of being The Hardyz main antagonists.
As for SmackDown Live, a Tag Team Championship Match between The Usos and The New Day is already announced on the card. According to this report, it could wind up happening on the kickoff show as well.
What’s next?
If this report is accurate then it's likely that the only tag team match on SummerSlam's main card will be Cesaro & Sheamus vs. the pairing of Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose for the Raw Tag Team Titles. That match still needs to be made official as well as the Hardyz vs. Good Brothers match on the kickoff show. Raw and SmackDown both only have one more episode between now and The Biggest Party of the Summer, so they'll have to finalize those bouts soon.
Author’s take
In the case of the Usos/New Day match, it will be a shame if they're merely on the pre-show because all of those guys have laid the groundwork well for their upcoming match. The SmackDown Live Tag Team Championship is one of the better title scenes in all of WWE right now. Personally, I want that match on the main card.
