Smackdown has been the better show of the two since the very beginning of the brand split. With a fragile roster, it is beating Raw almost every week. Even though last week Raw was a slightly better show and it was all the because of the festival of friendship segment.
So what to expect from this week’s Smackdown? Should we expect them to be a better show than Raw for this week? Or Raw will remain the better show just like last week? Let us discuss;
First, let us talk about the WWE championship scenario which is getting very interesting. Last week Bray Wyatt successfully defeated John Cena and AJ Styles in a triple threat match. After the match, the winner of the Royal Rumble match Randy Orton entered the frame and announced that Bray was the master and Orton was the slave, so he would not challenge him.
I noticed fans were already pissed off of hearing this. I saw them saying all over the internet that it would be a terrible booking, Royal Rumble is meaningless now and all. But hey, can’t we just wait till WrestleMania? Why not just see what the real plan is, of course, Orton will go on to the main event, last week’s announcement from Orton just had to be a part of the storyline.
Daniel Bryan announced on Talking Smack that an over the top rope battle royal will take place on this week’s Smackdown to determine the new no 1 contender. So here is how we predict what is going to happen; we think Luke Harper is going to win this battle royal, and at WrestleMania, we might see an on-screen family feud between three current Wyatt Family members.
Moving on to Dean Ambrose – Baron Corbin feud, this is being built up solidly. Obviously this feud is going to WrestleMania and of course, Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin for the IC championship is indeed best for business. Fans are already looking for a Street Fight between the two, and this would be awesome. But a direct stipulated match is highly unlikely for a stage like WrestleMania. So we might see some regular one on one action between the two before that, and why not starting it this week?
Next, we talk John Cena and AJ Styles. Well, both had their matches rumoured for WrestleMania, however, not much of the storylines revealed yet. John Cena is scheduled for a mixed tag team match against the Miz and Maryse with her girlfriend Nikki Bella at WrestleMania according to rumours. But is this seriously a great booking? Even the hardcore smarks are not happy with this decision if it is seriously made. We are five weeks away from WrestleMania so might see it begin by this week. Two small glimpses of this feud is already shown, once was at Elimination Chamber when Cena eliminated Miz and last week Nikki Bella accidentally attacked Maryse during her backstage fight with Natalya. This might be the beginning of the feud.
AJ Styles is rumoured to go toe to toe with Smackdown Live commissioner Shane McMahon at WrestleMania. This is something fans would hate to have on the card. After having a tremendous world title reign, is that all he deserves? Seriously? But you know the WWE creative team, they do whatever they want to. Even though Shane showcased an excellent contest the Undertaker last year at WrestleMania, still, having this match would never give AJ Styles the boost he deserves right now.
Moving on to the Women’s feuds, first, the Women’s championship which the New champion Naomi will defend against the former champion Alexa Bliss this week. We think this would be a win for Naomi and obviously, Naomi will not defend the title against Alexa one on one. Let us see where this angle goes.
Next, we talk about the feud between Mickie James and Becky Lynch. Well, this is a feud that Becky Lynch must win. Mickie has already achieved a lot so there is nothing much for her to prove. Becky is a new talent and she is doing excellent, so she should win this feud and having a feud won over a former five times Women’s champion, this could be a huge boost for Becky and she rightfully deserves it.
Next and final on this card is the Natalya – Nikki Bella feud. We think this feud must end here. We do not want to see this feud continuing anymore, it’s not working very well. So how would we book this situation? What would be the best booking for all? Here is how we would book it, as these two athletes are scheduled to go one on one this week, Nikki must dominate the most of the match period, then Maryse interferes and costs Nikki the match. Natalya wins by cheating, and here is the end of the feud. Winning this feud would be an excellent turn around for Natalya, and losing the feud like this would not damage Nikki’s status either, and it can clearly start the WrestleMania feud too.