What To Watch For On Tonight’s WWE SmackDown Live

With another big edition of WWE RAW this week that featured another show-stopping in-ring segment between Roman Reigns and John Cena, how does SmackDown intend to counter with a memorable show of their own?

So far we have just one match announced for tonight’s broadcast, but it is a match with big ramifications. It will change the course of television over the next month, that’s for sure.

Outside of that bout, we can speculate a little bit on where things are headed. SmackDown’s next PPV show is just over a month away, Hell In A Cell on October 8. We should start to see the card coming into focus in the next week or two.

So why should you tune in to tonight’s show? Is anything big going to go down? Here is what to watch for on tonight’s edition of SmackDown Live.

A Big Number One Contender Match

Shinsuke Nakamura and Randy Orton will do battle in a match to find out who will be the number one contender for Jinder Mahal’s WWE Championship. The eventual title match will likely take place at Hell In A Cell.

With both of these men having recently challenged Mahal (Orton several times), it will be interesting to see which direction WWE takes the title picture. It’s hard to imagine that they would go back to yet another Mahal vs. Orton match, but it’s also not unlike WWE to do so. After Mahal defeated Orton in their feud a couple of months ago, Orton was given a random television victory over Mahal, seemingly as a bookend to their feud to give Orton a win out of the whole deal. Is he really going to get another title shot?

Nakamura is an interesting story because it’d be hard to imagine that he would lose to Mahal again following his failure to win the title at SummerSlam. Of course the Singhs could get involved in the finish as an out if they want to keep it on Mahal, but I have to think if Nakamura gets another shot they need to put the belt on him. Risking even more of a delay of Nakamura winning the title could stall any momentum he has regained since starting to languish on the roster mid-summer. 

The Return of Charlotte?

Charlotte Flair returned to the house show circuit last week and was backstage at SmackDown Live. As we all saw, she wasn’t used on the show. Will this be the week that she is brought back for the first time since her father’s health crisis?

Charlotte has been on the road once again this weekend during SmackDown’s swing through the midwest, wrestling in Moline, Cedar Falls, and Rochester. She tagged with Naomi to take on Natalya and Tamina Snuka at all three shows. That match seems more or less thrown together just for the live crowd rather than a hint at what direction Charlotte will be headed upon her return. 

Look for some sort of interaction between Charlotte and Becky Lynch, as the pair could be on their way to a tag team match with Ronda Rousey and her MMA Four Horsewomen in the coming months. 

The U.S. Title Open Challenge Continues

AJ Styles will continue the segment that John Cena made famous: the U.S. title open challenge.

On last week’s show, Tye Dillinger answered the challenge, but not without some protesting from Baron Corbin. Though Dillinger was quickly deposed of by Styles, Corbin got involved following the match. He was subsequently taken out by Styles.

Styles vs. Corbin appears to be the U.S. title feud for Hell In A Cell, so look for Corbin to once again get involved in the open challenge segment. Who will answer the call from Styles?

We have no idea, but isn’t that part of the fun? 

The Build to KO vs. Shane ‘O Mac

Kevin Owens should look to continue his storyline with Shane McMahon on tonight’s show. Last week, Owens was intent in proving that he was a better referee than McMahon, tearing the referee shirt away from the official and helping Aiden English defeat Sami Zayn.

Owens gave Zayn a pop-up powerbomb last week to help English win, so we could be looking at a singles match between Owens and Zayn this week (yes please!), or a tag team match pitting Owens and English against Zayn and a partner of his choice.

The question will be where does McMahon get involved here. Will he be at the show this week, or will this be a slow build to a match further down the line than Hell In A Cell? I don’t know, but Kevin Owens as a referee was tremendous and I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. 

The New World’s Greatest Tag Team?

Chad Gable isn’t Charlie Haas, but that didn’t seem to bother Shelton Benjamin last week. In their debut as a tag team, Gable and Benjamin defeated The Ascension. 

Where does the team go this week? It’s not as if there is a tremendous amount of depth in the SmackDown tag team division ranks, and putting these two in the ring with the Usos and New Day wouldn’t make sense at this point. Is it time for Fandango to return to the ring in front of the cameras? I’m guessing either they or the Hype Bros take on Gable and Benjamin if they team up again this week. 

Either way, this story is clearly building to a Gable vs. Benjamin bout down the line. Gable has already been made out to be the excited fan boy in this team, and Benjamin has already given his partner some strange looks. More important than the match they wrestle in this week might be keeping an eye out for any under the radar looks of annoyance that Benjamin shoots at his partner.