Notable Superstars Missing from the Card
Note: This is not a full list of everyone on the roster who is not scheduled for the show. It excludes some people who wouldn’t have normally been expected to appear on the show for some fashion, such as some jobbers, injured talent, etc.
Note #2: As there is a lumberjack match on the card, many people could find themselves ringside serving that purpose.
The Rest of the Raw Tag Team Division = AJ Styles and Omos spent most of the past month away, for whatever reason. They’re continuing to feud with The New Day, while RKBro has something going on with Elias and Jaxson Ryker, with everything interspersed. The Viking Raiders disappeared again. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin broke up. Lucha House Party got a vignette this week, which is better than nothing. Veer and Shanky aren’t established yet. Mace and T-Bar stopped being associated with MVP and Bobby Lashley, it seems. So. Yeah.
Angel Garza / Drew Gulak = If this were Extreme Rules and WWE still did the “every match has a gimmick” setup, I would assume they’d have some sort of “Every Rose Has Its Thorns Match” or whatever. That seems like filler for Raw, though, rather than a pay-per-view feud. I’m anticipating they’ll be lumberjacks.
Alexa Bliss / Bray Wyatt = Gotta love that follow-up WWE has, right? Months and months of “wait until WrestleMania for this Wyatt, Bliss and Orton thing to matter” and it sucks. Then, they drop it. Bliss is maybe “going to” feud with someone, Wyatt’s MIA and Orton’s busy elsewhere. Awful, and I kept saying it was going to happen for months, so I’m not even shocked.
Sheamus / Humberto Carrillo / Mansoor = After the fall Sheamus and Carrillo took on Raw, I’m no longer surprised there isn’t a United States Championship match on the card. I had thought Mansoor would get an opportunity, but I guess WWE is more interested in ending his undefeated streak for literally no reason, rather than doing anything for the upcoming event. Strange booking these days.
Jeff Hardy / Jinder Mahal / Veer and Shanky = Hardy and Mahal wrestled on Main Event, then Raw. This whole thing is weird, but it’s not something that is a big priority right now. I would have been shocked if they were on the card.
Keith Lee = Why is everyone so hush hush about Lee’s whereabouts? Clearly, it’s some sort of medical issue, but nobody wants to specify what the problem is. It’s very suspicious.
Mustafa Ali / Ricochet = These two are stuck in Main Event land.
Women’s Tag Team Division = Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler lost their titles on SmackDown, rather than this event. That explains the absence of Nattie and Tamina (the new champions), Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose, Lana and Naomi, The Riott Squad, etc.
Eva Marie = The Eva-lution hasn’t fully begun. All she can do right now, it seems, is pose on cars and talk about how she’s a go-getter who has succeeded in life.
Aleister Black = After a few animations, he’s back to doing nothing. Maybe in a few more weeks or months, Creative will have an idea of someone to pair him with. Ridiculous.
Alpha Academy / The Street Profits = These two teams have had just as many opportunities lately to get yet another tag title shot on SmackDown. They were passed over in favor of Dominik and Rey Mysterio.
Apollo Crews / Big E / Sami Zayn / Kevin Owens = I was absolutely convinced these guys would be in a Fatal 4-Way for the Intercontinental Championship. Frankly, I’m shocked that wasn’t announced for this event and is being held off for SmackDown. Then again, I shouldn’t be. WWE has been doing this for months where they save some of the pay-per-view matches for TV instead and water the special events down.
King Corbin = For a few months now, WWE hasn’t given Corbin anything to work with. I wonder why that’s the case. If Creative has nothing, isn’t it their job to, you know, be creative and think of something? How about a feud against Shinsuke Nakamura, who also has nothing going on? Or maybe move him to Raw if he’s exhausted all his stories? Hell, have him beat the tar out of Slapjack.
Murphy = Where’s he been? Waiting out his contract so he can leave and go to another company?
Seth Rollins = With Cesaro busy fighting for the Universal Championship, there doesn’t seem to be anything for Rollins to do at the moment.
The Remaining SmackDown Women’s Division = We have a few stragglers not in the tag team situation who are still not up to anything on the blue brand. Mainly, Sasha Banks is MIA, Carmella is lingering with nothing going on and Mia Yim hasn’t gotten her foothold on Friday nights yet.
Continue to the next page for Heat Index.
