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After putting on a great show in Miami last week, followed by the brief SmackVille event in Nashville, SmackDown will once again be live from Memphis, Tennessee this week.
One of the biggest feuds heading into the show is Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston. The WWE Champion and The Viper will go face-to-face on tonight's show. Kevin Owens will once again try to get his hands on Shane McMahon. Moreover, Elias and Drew McIntyre will be facing Big E and Xavier Woods of The New Day in a tag team match.
But that's not all. WWE Hall Of Famer Trish Stratus will be returning to the blue brand this week for a segment with Jerry "The King" Lawler, which has got the fans pretty hyped.
WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The IIconics will also lock horns with Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville. We might even get to know who Shinsuke Nakamura will be defending his Intercontinental Championship against at SummerSlam.
In this article, let's take a look at six things which look inevitable on tonight's SmackDown.
#6 Elias and Drew McIntyre could defeat The New Day
The New Day won their sixth WWE Tag Team Championship at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view a couple of weeks ago. Since then, WWE hasn't focused much on the SmackDown tag titles, but it looks like it's finally time to determine new challengers for the titles.
Earlier this week, WWE announced that Elias and Drew McIntyre will be facing Xavier Woods and Big E in a tag team match at this week's SmackDown. Daniel Bryan and Rowan are already out of the title picture, while Heavy Machinery already lost the chances they got.
It seems that WWE currently doesn't have a tag team on SmackDown, which is ready to face Woods and Big E at SummerSlam, which is why they've thrown Elias and McIntyre into the mix.
WWE can go with two angles in the match. The first being a simple one, which is Elias and McIntyre beating Woods and Big E clean, leading to a title match at SummerSlam. If not the first, then we'll most probably see McIntyre and Elias beating down Woods and Big E, leading to a disqualification, which will set up a match between them.
#5 Ali could call out Shinsuke Nakamura
Since returning from an injury, Ali has been looking for a big opportunity to prove himself. Shinsuke Nakamura won the Intercontinental Championship at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view earlier this month. The following night, Ali was seen congratulating him on his win backstage.
Ali has been cutting promos from the past couple of weeks, hinting something big. He also said that he wanted a shot at the WWE Championship, but that doesn't look possible for now.
Ali faced Shinsuke Nakamura at WWE SmackVille this past Saturday night in Nashville, where the two stole the show. Nakamura almost lost his title, but luck didn't favor Ali in the end.
On this week's episode of SmackDown, there is a possibility that Ali calls out Nakamura for a rematch because he took him to the limit at SmackVille. In addition, Nakamura doesn't have an opponent right now, so a feud with Ali on the road to SummerSlam looks inevitable. Hopefully, the match does happen, because it will surely be a candidate for the match of the year.
#4 Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston could get physical
Kofi Kingston challenged Randy Orton to a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam last week on SmackDown. Orton came out and accepted the challenge, which was no surprise to the WWE Universe. Orton also tried to hit an RKO on Kingston during his match against Samoa Joe but failed miserably. Instead, the WWE Champion returned the favor with a Trouble In Paradise.
The rivalry just started and things look pretty hot already. The WWE Champion and The Viper will once again be face to face at this week's episode of SmackDown Live. Orton will be looking to avenge the attack on him last week.
Knowing Orton, he will most probably try to confuse Kingston with his mind games. We can also expect an RKO out of nowhere on the WWE Champion. Orton may also respond to Kingston's comments about him post-WWE SmackVille.
As we get closer to SummerSlam, expect the beef between Orton and Kingston to get bigger, because the two have despised each other for 11 years, and will be looking to get the upper hand heading into the biggest party of the summer.
#3 Kevin Owens could go after Shane McMahon again
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon is perhaps the hottest rivalry on the blue brand. Owens and McMahon have been going at it for almost a month now, with Owens having the upper hand in this rivalry so far.
Last week, we saw Owens facing Roman Reigns in a one-on-one match with Drew McIntyre as the special guest referee and Elias as the special guest timekeeper for the match. Shane-O-Mac was also present ringside during the bout.
As expected, the match did not last for a long time and turned into a two-on-three brawl, when McIntyre started to interfere between Owens and Reigns. The show ended with Owens standing tall while sending a message to McMahon.
The rivalry will further proceed this week. Owens will be looking to avenge the three-on-two brawl McMahon set him up in, while Shane-O-Mac would want to give Owens some kind of payback for the two Stunners he hit him with.
Shane McMahon getting the upper hand looks likely this week, because KO has been the last man standing for the past couple of weeks. With Elias and McIntyre busy with The New Day, McMahon might be planning to pull an unexpected trick up his sleeve.
#2 Bray Wyatt could interrupt Finn Balor vs. Dolph Ziggler
Recently, one of the rivalries, which has been all over RAW and SmackDown is Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor.
Bray Wyatt sent a message to Finn Balor last week on the RAW Reunion, by attacking Mick Foley. The following night, Wyatt appeared on SmackDown to accept Balor's challenge for a match at SummerSlam.
We are still two weeks away from SummerSlam, so we'll be watching the two guys trying to get the upper hand on each other in the coming weeks. Finn Balor will surely be looking to get revenge on Bray Wyatt but The Fiend will do what he's best at and that's playing mind games with his opponents.
Balor suffered an injury due to which he did not appear at WWE SmackVille this past Saturday, but he's scheduled to face Dolph Ziggler at SmackDown tonight. An interruption from The Fiend looks likely as he'll be trying to demoralize Balor before SummerSlam. We can expect an appearance during the match, or after it.
#1 Charlotte Flair confronts Trish Stratus
Charlotte Flair faced off against Ember Moon in a singles match last week on SmackDown. It was a possible opportunity for Charlotte to be added to the SmackDown Women's Championship match at SummerSlam, but unfortunately, Flair lost due to an interruption by Bayley.
Flair was furious after the match, and went on to claim in a backstage interview that she would get a better opponent than any of the women on the roster, for a match at SummerSlam.
Earlier this week, WWE announced that Trish Stratus will be returning to the blue brand this week, to have a segment with Jerry Lawler on The King's court. A few days before the announcement, there were rumors that the 7-time Women's Champion will be returning for a match at SummerSlam, reportedly against Flair.
Now that she's set to make her return, there's a high possibility that Flair interrupts her on The King's Court, leading to a confrontation between the two. It is likely that Flair will show some disrespect to Stratus, which will plant the seeds for a bout at the biggest party of the summer.
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