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EditorialWWE SummerSlam 2017 Card: Tracking SmackDown's Feud and Match Options

WWE SummerSlam 2017 Card: Tracking SmackDown’s Feud and Match Options

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Now that Battleground is in the past and this week’s episode of SmackDown has started to give us hints about where the feuds on the blue brand will go over the next few weeks, it’s time for us to do part 2 of the SummerSlam 2017 card predictions.

(Click here to check out part 1 from several weeks back to see how things have changed for Raw over the past two weeks)

Let’s try to give our extended projections for which matches we think will be on the card as far as the SmackDown roster is concerned by examining the current feuds and where they may end up come August 20th. Make sure you leave your comments below with your predictions!

SmackDown Women’s Championship: Naomi (c) vs. Natalya

Let’s get this one out of the way, as it’s currently the only confirmed match for SmackDown at the moment.

For the life of me, I can’t imagine Natalya winning the championship here for any reason, so since Naomi would retain in that scenario, what are the chances we see Carmella cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase?

In my mind, rather slim. I can’t help but feel like the constant reminders that she can steal the belt from Naomi are just to build up anticipation for something that isn’t going to happen, so we let our guards down and the cash-in happens later on in the year.

WWE Championship: Jinder Mahal (c) vs. TBD

Next week, we’ll see John Cena face Shinsuke Nakamura to determine who gets a shot at Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship.

Between those two, I have to assume this is going to be a Cena victory. I just see no way in which Nakamura vs. Mahal works, even on paper, considering how one of them struggles to cut promos with any kind of enthusiasm or charisma (Mahal) while the other one struggles to cut promos at all (Nakamura).

It’s far too early for Nakamura to win the title and be the front man of SmackDown, and with reports saying Mahal should be dropping the title soon, those two ideas don’t match up.

Cena, on the other hand, can very well win title #17 from Mahal in order to set up what I feel is the next few months of stories: a rematch against Mahal in Hell in a Cell, a cash-in from Baron Corbin at the end of that match, and a few months of Cena vs. Corbin finishing us out for the rest of 2017.

The only question is whether Corbin, Rusev, or Randy Orton will get involved in this No. 1 contender’s match in some capacity, and if not, what they’ll be doing on the card otherwise.

United States Championship Options

This is a mess, and I won’t even attempt to claim that I have any idea what WWE has planned, as I wouldn’t be shocked if I learned they have no idea what they’re doing, either.

Why did AJ Styles beat Kevin Owens for the title at a house show just to drop it at Battleground in such an awkward finish and then win it back two nights later? How do we factor Chris Jericho into the mix now that he’s made a surprise return months ahead of his anticipated timeline? When is Chad Gable going to get to do anything?

There are plenty of midcarders who could be in the title hunt like Sami Zayn, Mike Kanellis, Baron Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura (if he loses to Cena), and Rusev, but this card can’t just have every title match be a Fatal 4-Way to cram everybody into the lineup, nor does it seem to make much sense to have another Styles vs. Owens match.

Honestly, I have no clue. I wouldn’t be shocked if almost anything happened at this point, including some crazy rearranging of all the feuds where Owens regains the title and defends it against Nakamura or something along those lines.

Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis / Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English

This week saw the babyfaces and the heels in these two feuds go against each other in a tag team match, indicating that we at least have some more leftovers from Battleground to munch on before new feuds are created for these four.

SummerSlam is going to be so stacked that I don’t think either feud will get a chance to appear on the lineup, but if one of them does have some kind of presence, it will be Zayn vs. Kanellis, not Dillinger vs. English, and I can see Zayn/Kanellis being a pre-show match at best.

As mentioned before, there’s a possibility we have some calamity of a United States Championship mashup where an assortment of people are thrown together in a six-pack challenge or something, and if that’s the case, Zayn and Kanellis may find themselves as two of the men in that field, but I can’t see that applying to Dillinger and English, who will have to keep their feud to a SmackDown-specific thing.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Options

The New Day clearly aren’t finished with The Usos, as evidenced by their attack this week, but we’re still in the same conundrum with this title situation as we are with most others on both Raw and SmackDown: do you go with the rematch or the cluster-fuck?

SummerSlam is supposed to be one of the biggest events of the year and if it consists of matches we’ve seen on the previous pay-per-views, it kills a lot of the interest. As good as The New Day and The Usos are, if you have a standard tag team match between those two, do you really want to see that instead of something different?

Gimmick matches help fix part of that problem as they introduce a fun stipulation to freshen things up, but how do you distinguish something like a Street Fight to any other No DQ style matches?

If it’s just a repeat of what we got at Battleground and Money in the Bank, don’t be shocked to see the SmackDown tag titles positioned as a buffer bathroom break. If other tag teams are involved, who could fit the bill?

The Fashion Police are the only other team doing anything of interest on SmackDown and their feud with their mystery attackers wasn’t capitalized on at all this week, giving us no indication of where that story is going. Since The Ascension, The Colons and The Hype Bros have been ruled out, it seems like a reunion of Erick Rowan and Luke Harper is the only logical solution.

Does that mean somehow in the next few weeks, there will be some matches that lead us down the path of another Fatal 4-Way with The New Day, The Usos, The Fashion Police and Harper/Rowan, or will The Fashion Police wrestle a separate match on the card against their attackers?

Here’s hoping if it’s an Usos/New Day rematch, something spices it up, and that we don’t just have to wait until August 20th to get the answer of who is attacking Breezango, since Battleground didn’t deliver on that whatsoever.

The Great Khali vs. Randy Orton

Good God, I hope this doesn’t happen, but it’s something that needs to be addressed here just in case.

With Khali interfering in the Punjabi Prison match to cost Randy Orton the win, it would seem strange if there’s no resolution whatsoever, but I’m fine with that over the alternative that we’d see The Punjabi Playboy return to in-ring action.

This match wouldn’t have been fun to see years ago when both men were in better shape and it certainly isn’t going to be worth eating up time at SummerSlam in 2017.

Plus, neither of the two were on SmackDown this week. That may not be saying much, as there were plenty of people left off this show (which makes you wonder if Talking Smack could have given those people some time to do something….hm….) but I’m still holding out hope that Orton takes SummerSlam off and Khali’s appearance was a one-time thing.

The Hype Bros Explode

There have been hints that Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley will split, ending The Hype Bros tag team, but that hasn’t come to fruition just yet.

This means either there aren’t plans for the two to split, or there are and WWE has just put a pin on it for now to focus on other things that have a higher priority.

I’m inclined to believe the latter, as I think Raw is dominating SummerSlam’s card and WWE might have realized in the past week or two that there isn’t enough room to dedicate to something like Rawley vs. Ryder, even on the pre-show, since it isn’t as long of an event as the Big Four events have been lately.

Why is SummerSlam 4 hours instead of 6, especially with so many matches potentially being left off the card due to time constraints? Your guess is as good as mine, but there are plenty of wrestlers who won’t be able to perform because of those missing two hours who should be pretty upset about that.

Projected SmackDown Matches

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match: Naomi (c) vs. Natalya
WWE Championship Match: Jinder Mahal (c) vs. John Cena
United States Championship Match: Some massive combination of the leftovers including Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, Shinsuke Nakamura, Baron Corbin and possibly Rusev
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (c) vs. The Usos
The Fashion Police vs. Erick Rowan and Luke Harper

What do you think the SmackDown side of SummerSlam’s card is going to look like? Tell us your predictions in the comments below!

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