Two Big Title Matches Announced For Next Week’s SmackDown

Monday and Tuesday night saw two WWE championships change hands in a way that seemed impossible just a week ago, and we might be headed to even more championship changes next week.

Following AJ Styles winning the WWE championship from Jinder Mahal on SmackDown and The Bar winning the WWE RAW tag team championships from The Shield on RAW, WWE has announced that Natalya will defend her WWE women’s title against Charlotte on next week’s SmackDown broadcast. Going one step further, WWE U.S. champion Baron Corbin will defend his title against Sin Cara, also next week.

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You’d be hard pressed to find a time in WWE history when the company has shaken up a card for a big PPV so close to the show itself as they have over the last two nights heading into Survivor Series. The Styles title win, in particular, was pretty amazing given the Mahal vs. Lesnar match was built up for several weeks and will now flip to a dream match between Styles and Lesnar on just 12 days notice.

The winner of Charlotte vs. Natalya will go on to face Alexa Bliss in a RAW vs. SmackDown match between women’s champions at Survivor Series. The winner of Corbin vs. Sin Cara will move on to face WWE Intercontinental champion The Miz in a RAW vs. SmackDown match, also at Survivor Series.

It would seem unlikely at this stage that Corbin would be losing his title, and the match being promoted for next week proves that Sin Cara’s reported knee injury must not be as bad as originally feared. Sin Cara injured himself at a Sunday house show in Spain, prompting WWE to remove him from a Monday house show in Portugal.

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Charlotte vs. Natalya is very intriguing, as a Charlotte vs. Alexa Bliss bout might be more appealing than a Bliss vs. Natalya match in the near future but could also be saved for a bigger stage (WrestleMania?) down the line. Bliss and Charlotte are easily the two most over characters in the women’s division at this point and a potential match would be huge.

With Charlotte getting a lot of publicity of late with the release of her book and the 30 for 30 documentary on her father premiering this week, WWE may look to capitalize on that attention and make a championship change next week.