Daniel Bryan stripped Carmella of her Women’s Money in the Bank briefcase on tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live. He announced that there will be a rematch on next week’s show with the same competitors as Sunday night.
The following matches are confirmed for next week’s show:
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match
SmackDown Women’s Championship: Lana vs. Naomi
Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin
The Hype Bros vs. The Usos
Daniel Bryan announced on tonight’s Talking Smack that James Ellsworth will be banned from ringside from the Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match on next week’s episode of SmackDown Live.
As noted, the following is confirmed for next week’s show:
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match – James Ellsworth Banned from ringside
SmackDown Women’s Championship: Lana vs. Naomi
Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin
The Hype Bros vs. The Usos
PWInsider reports that Rusev is backstage for tonight’s SmackDown taping in Dayton, Ohio.
While the the website claimed over the weekend that he would be returning to WWE television, they can no longer confirm those are the plans.
Considering that the SmackDown brand just had a pay-per-view on Sunday, many would suggest that the chances of him returning are very high. WWE normally kicks off or follows up to feuds after most pay-per-view events, so now would be the time for Rusev to inject himself into some sort of storyline.
Rusev had been out since March following shoulder surgery and was recently cleared to return to action.
Many of you are aware now that John Cena is being billed as a “free agent” and the company plans to have him work both RAW and SmackDown brand shows moving forward.
Cena has just been announced for the first RAW-brand event for July 15th at a WWE Live Event. Cena is scheduled to face Bray Wyatt on the card. It is possible that the company starts adding him to even more RAW and SmackDown events as he gets closer to his July 4th return to the company.
As seen on WWE programming, Lana made her debut as a SmackDown Live Superstar and is already being positioned a top spot on the brand in the female division. Dave Meltzer discussed her SmackDown Live Women’s Championship match against Naomi and her position on the roster during today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio.
Meltzer claimed that the company is adamant on having an attractive top WWE Superstar to represent the women’s division and this reason attributes her push within the company. He indicated that this role was originally planned for Eva Marie, but with her out of the picture they decided to go with Lana instead.
We reported a few days back via Pro Wrestling Sheet that Rusev has been cleared to return to in-ring competition after having shoulder surgery back in March.
PWInsider reports that Rusev is expected to make his return to WWE programming on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live. There is no exact word on what his role will be upon his return. WWE teased a feud with Shane McMahon last month, but those plans got nixed. It’s unknown at this time if the company will pick up where they left off. We will keep you updated.
Daniel Bryan, who has been off WWE television because his wife Brie gave birth to their child, announced on Twitter that he will be returning to SmackDown Live next week.
Looking forward to watching history be made at @WWE #MITB on Sunday but Tuesday it’s back to work for me at #SDLive! #YesYesYes
— Daniel Bryan (@WWEDanielBryan) June 16, 2017
As previously noted, John Cena will be making his return to weekly WWE programming on the July 4th episode of SmackDown Live and will be billed as a “free agent” moving forward. Dave Meltzer discussed Cena’s return on today’s installment of Wrestling Observer Radio and speculated what his schedule could be like when he returns to the company.
While none of this is confirmed, Meltzer presented a scenario that could see Cena work only RAW and SmackDown televised events on Monday’s and Tuesday. He would not work WWE Live Events later in the week. This scenario would leave Cena plenty of time to fulfill his non-WWE commitments and Cena would still have a strong presence on WWE programming. Cena would of course work both pay-per-view events for the RAW and SmackDown Live brands each month. So basically, he would work Sunday-Tuesday and have Wednesday through Saturday off.
Welcome to our coverage of SmackDown Live for the 13th of June 2017!
The Money in the Bank competitors will square-off tonight in a huge six-man tag team match, with AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Sami Zayn, taking on Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler, and Baron Corbin. Tonight’s match gives a couple of guys a chance to gain some much-needed momentum heading into the all-important match on Sunday night.
Ahead of their huge title rematch at Money in the Bank, Randy Orton comes face-to-face with Jinder Mahal. Sunday’s show is set in Randy’s hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, so can he win his 14th World Heavyweight Championship. I would expect fireworks to happen tonight with Orton taking the fight to Mahal and The Singh Brothers!
Also on tonight’s show, Breezango will tag with The New Day to take on The Uso’s and The Colon’s. Naomi is set to face Tamina in singles competition, which is a big opportunity for the second generation star. Naomi’s challenger at MITB, Lana , could cost her the match and give Tamina some huge momentum. On top of that, Natalya also faces Charlotte ahead of their big ladder match.
All that and more to look forward to on tonight’s SmackDown Live! Are you excited to see the show? Let us know in the comments and be sure to check out the Ringside News app, and enjoy the show!
The following are spoilers for tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live, courtesy of PWInsider:
Zack Ryder is backstage and is expected to make his return on tonight’s show. Ryder has been out of action with a knee injury since December.
There is talk that American Alpha will return.
Charlotte vs. Natalya
Naomi vs. Tamina
Usos/Primo/Epico vs. Breezango/New Day
Check back here at 8PM ET for our live play-by-play coverage. Also, you can join us on RingsideTalk.net for our live fan chat.
On a recent episode of his podcast, Conversation with the Big Guy, Ryback let out his thoughts on Nia Jax’s controversial tweet about the WWE Creative. Jax had tweeted criticizing the red brand’s creative team by pointing out how RAW doesn’t use all it’s women wrestlers while its rival brand, SmackDown LIVE does.
The tweet was then quickly taken down by Jax herself as it was garnering a lot of attention and possibly made the creative look really bad.
Here are Ryback’s comments on the said issue : (quotes credit ewrestlingnews.com)
“Everybody is frustrated there, from top to bottom. She’s been handed a lot early on, in my opinion. It’s very early on to make a comment like that and when I saw that I totally understand it, like, if you are not on TV a couple of weeks is frustrating. With her character on TV, it’s not like they can just throw her in random. It could be a good TV that you’re not on TV every week. If you’re being booked for live events, who the f**k cares? You’re making money until they find something good for you, but when you go and make comments like that, there’s no good that comes out of that because it’s not like real sports where you control the outcome. It’s writers and Vince, they control your character and they can write her and job her out every week. She has to either go do it or not do it and get released, so she put herself in a real bad position by making comments like that on social media. It reminded me of that guy with Lord Tensai, Sakamoto. I remember there was Japanese heat for another Japanese guy coming on the roster, Yoshi had gone on social media and made a comment. If we were in UFC it’d be cool, you may have gotten yourself booked for a big fight and a big payday, but in pro-wrestling you can’t go on there and say that. A week later he got Jobbed out on RAW. That is what it reminded me of because no good ever comes out of it, but she’s young, so it is what it is.”
You can check out all our other podcast recaps from Jim Ross, Taz, Ryback and many more at this link.
Jinder Mahal has received a substantial pay increase since his push to the top of the SmackDown Live card, according to Dave Meltzer.
When asked if the now-WWE Champion was getting paid more for his current position in the company, Meltzer responded with the following on Twitter: