AJ styles

Spoiler: Winner of the Independence Day Battle Royal

It was announced this past week that an Independence Day Battle Royal will take place on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live next week. The winner of that bout will move on to face Kevin Owens for the WWE United States Championship at the July 23rd WWE Battleground event.

According to PWInsider, AJ Styles is expected to leave the battle royal victorious. Styles is currently scheduled to face Owens for the Title at Battleground. As of this writing, Styles is the only participant in the match, however more names will likely be revealed in the next couple of days heading into the match.

WWE Plants the Seeds for Upcoming SummerSlam Match

As seen at Sunday’s WWE Money in the Bank during the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, WWE had a spot that saw AJ Styles and Nakamura square off in a little one-on-one action near the closing moments of the match. Bryan Alvarez discussed this angle on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Live and indicated that this spot was done to setup a match between the two at a future date — presumably at this year’s SummerSlam.

As of this writing, the following matches are being rumored for the show:

Brock Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman
John Cena vs. Jinder Mahal
Triple H vs. Kurt Angle
AJ Styles vs. Nakamura

With WWE holding for back-to-back shows in the row at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, they are expecting to make this show as big as possible. Those events include NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III on August 19th, SummerSlam on the 20th, RAW on the 21st and SmackDown Live on the 22nd.

How Each Money in the Bank Contestant Should Cash In

There are different types of cash-ins when it comes to the Money in the Bank briefcase. Some people do it like Edge and pick up the pieces after a grueling match. There’s also the RVD method, where you announce when and where you will be cashing in. If you’re truly a mad lad, you can do what Seth Rollins did and insert yourself into a match that’s already happening. There’s a decent amount of variety.

Each contestant in the match is different. They have different agendas, different ways of doing their thing. Not everyone will do it the same way. I hope to show the potentially best way for each man to cash in their contract.

6. Dolph Ziggler

I have a higher chance of meeting pretty much anyone on the WWE roster than Dolph Ziggler does of winning Money in the Bank again. Bear in mind, I live on a completely different side of the globe from pretty much everyone in the WWE. What I’m trying to say is this: Dolph Ziggler is not winning.

However, for the purpose of this article, let’s assume he does. It would be hard to top his original cash-in in 2013. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. For the newer fans who wonder why so many people still love him, check out when he won the World Heavyweight Championship.

Right now, Dolph is lacking in the heat department. Lots of people simply don’t care. So if he should win (he won’t, though), he needs to cash in on a beloved babyface. Cashing in on a wounded AJ Styles or Sami Zayn could be the spark to rejuvenate Ziggler’s heel turn.

5. AJ Styles

Honestly, AJ Styles doesn’t need Money in the Bank. He’s done so much for Smackdown that he could just say “Hey Shane, could I have a title match?” and we’d all buy it. We’d eat it up. So in my honest opinion, I do not want AJ Styles to win. And I say this as a fan of the guy.

If Styles does win, I wouldn’t be mad. Not at all. However with Styles now acting as a face, that does limit his options somewhat. However, he is still an arrogant guy, so it makes total sense for him to announce when and where he is going to cash in his Money in the Bank contract.

There are so many great opponents for Styles, because he’s had great matches with almost everyone. Styles v. Orton would be must-see. So would Styles v. Zayn. Hell, imagine the anticipation for Styles v. Nakamura. Even something a bit more out-there like Styles v. Rusev or Styles v. Corbin would be a treat to watch.

If Styles wins, expect him to announce when he’ll have his match, and expect a lot of hype and anticipation.

4. Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens is one of the most fleshed-out characters on the roster today. He’s a heartless psychopath who only wants to do what is best for his family. He will destroy anyone and everyone who gets in the way of that. There are a lot of ways that his cash-in could go down, but there’s one idea in particular that I really love, and I found it on Reddit.

Imagine this. Kevin Owens wins Money in the Bank. A few months later, Sami Zayn becomes the number one contender. Come the pay-per-view, Zayn has the champion pinned. 1, 2, 3! Before Sami Zayn’s music can play, Kevin Owens’ music hits, and he strolls to the ring, laughing like a maniac because he once again gets to dick Sami Zayn over.

Of course, this idea isn’t perfect, as it would require Owens to drop the title back to Zayn in a few months, or Zayn losing to Owens again. Still, the heat from that would be like a thousand suns. It’s such an evil thing to do, which is why Kevin Owens would do it.

Note on Picture-In-Picture Advertising on SmackDown Live

As many of you have seen recently. WWE is now doing picture-in-picture advertising on the SmackDown Live brand on Tuesday nights. This was apparently the USA Network’s idea as they plan on doing it for other shows. The idea is to keep the viewers from changing the channel during commercial breaks.

It’s worth pointing out that WWE is only doing the picture-in-picture advertising for the non-important matches and are still doing full-on commercials for their bigger matches. This past Tuesday on SmackDown they did normal commercial breaks for the AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler match and other popular matches.

Does AJ Styles Like His Entrance Theme Song?

While speaking with Kenny McIntosh, AJ Styles was asked about his current entrance theme song and if he liked it. He made the following remarks about it:

“I gotta be honest, when I told them kind of what I was looking for, cause as much I’m from the southern part of the United States, I’m not that much of a country music fan. Do I like it? Sure. But not that much. So I was like ‘Alright, just that little bit of country, but I love rap. So we’re gonna have to find a way with a cool beat.’ And they found a way to make it work for me. I don’t know that they had made that song specifically for me because I think it was made in NXT. But I think it fit me like a glove. Now I can’t imagine any other music I’d walk out to. It’s great man, I can’t say enough good things about it. It worked. I don’t know how or why it just did. I’m very happy with it.”