Tonight starts anew for WWE as it is the first Smackdown Live after last week’s ‘Superstar Shakeup,’ with the show taking place at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
Last week’s SmackDown Live provided so many memorable moments including AJ Styles becoming the number one contender for the United States championship and the SD Live debuts of Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Charlotte and the announcement of The New Day.
There are a lot of unknowns heading into this evening’s Smackdown. Here are the four burning questions going into the first show after the ‘Superstar Shakeup’:
1) Who walks out the number one contender for the WWE championship for the WWE championship? The main event of this evening’s show features a six-pack challenge with the winner becoming the one contender. The match features Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper, Jinder Mahal, Erick Rowan and MoJo Rawley.
At least three of these six names seem out of place. But it is a chance for these talents to shine when normally they wouldn’t get this type of opportunity. Looking at logic, either Zayn or Harper makes the most sense here. Ziggler appears headed to a feud with Nakamura, Mahal and Rawley are feuding and Rowan is already floundering since he came back, having been dominated by Orton. Harper would be the route to go. Him and Orton have an issue stemming back from when they were a part of the Wyatt Family with Harper saying Orton was a snake in the grass and Bray Wyatt shouldn’t trust him. Add in the fact, Harper is one of best wrestlers on the roster and been horribly used, it’s time to put him in a position to see if he can swim with the sharks.
2) Does Nakamura finally have a match? The Japanese superstar debuted on the main roster two weeks ago and hasn’t yet had a televised match. He’s had dark matches with Dolph Ziggler and appeared on Smackdown Live in a segment with The Miz and last week’s segment with Ziggler. It would be smart of WWE to hold Nakamura off until Backlash where he’s expected to face Ziggler. Make the fans want it and want it and make them order the WWE Network and/or buy tickets to the pay-per-view in Chicago on May 21.
3) Will anyone step up to challenge Kevin Owens? The United States champion is set to face Chris Jericho at Payback. Owens is likely to win the match as Jericho is set to tour with Fozzy. And his next contender is set as Styles won the number one contender’s match on last week’s show. Owens will be holding a “Face of America Challenge” to the roster since he is Canadian but due to him being the champion, he’s the face of America. Safe bet would have to be either Styles or Baron Corbin since they don’t have announced match on the show and were involved in a four-way match on last week’s show.
4) Do any Raw talents appear on SmackDown heading into Payback? On last night’s Raw, no one from the blue brand appeared. Jericho could appear to be the person who takes part in the “Face of America Challenge”. Wyatt did appear on last week’s Smackdown Live even though it was just on the Titantron. One would expect more of the same this evening, as well as next week’s show.
