WWE News: Two Matches, Aleister Black’s Opponent Reveal and a Tag Team Summit Announced for Smackdown

This Tuesday’s edition of WWE Smackdown Live will be the last Smackdown before Extreme Rules, which takes place next Sunday, July 14. For Raw, WWE has advertised two tag team matches, which we covered here. For Smackdown, we have learned that WWE is planning on two fresh singles matches.

Kevin Owens will face Dolph Ziggler in singles action. This is happening because their tag team, which was put together by Shane McMahon, fell apart on Smackdown last week. It was an angle done to turn Owens back into a face role after a few months of a heel turn. Owens was never going to turn heel when he returned, but due to Smackdown needing a heel to face Kofi Kingston at Fastlane, he was turned and now WWE has apparently made the decision to have Owens as a face again, which is fine.

Prediction: I think they’ll have a short match to set up a longer match at Extreme Rules next Sunday. Let’s go with Ziggler winning cheap here and then Owens wins at Extreme Rules.

Finn Balor hasn’t done a lot as the Intercontinental Champion in the last month. Two weeks ago on Smackdown, Shinsuke Nakamura approached him, pointed at the Intercontinental TItle and apparently that’s enough to start a feud. It was announced that Balor will face Nakamura on Smackdown in a match that isn’t for Balor’s IC Title.

Prediction: It will probably be a match with a non-finish like a DQ on Nakamura when he realizes he can’t put Balor away. Maybe there’s a post-match attack from Nakamura. That would set up Balor vs. Nakamura for the IC TItle at Extreme Rules. Another possibility is for Balor to lose non-title because this is WWE and we all know how much they love champions losing non-title matches.

Here’s what they wrote on WWE.com about the Aleister Black storyline.

For weeks, Aleister Black has been begging for someone on SmackDown LIVE to knock on his door and pick a fight with him. Finally, someone answered the call two weeks ago, and this Tuesday night, the WWE Universe will discover just who it was.

Who will step to The Dutch Destroyer at WWE Extreme Rules? Tune-in to SmackDown LIVE this Tuesday night to find out!

It’s been about two months now. While WWE claims that we will find out who Black will face at Extreme Rules, let’s remember this is WWE and they tend to lie about things. I think they’re telling the truth here, though, because it’s better to name the opponent rather than do a mystery opponent. Black is likely going to win the match at Extreme Rules, so it would be foolish to have a mystery opponent only for the mystery opponent to lose.

Prediction: I think it will be Randy Orton. Call it a hunch, but they also wrestled at a recent live event. Orton has had nothing interesting to do for several months now. It would be a fresh feud where you put a main event level guy like Orton in a feud with a rising star like Black. It works for me. Andrade is another option as well since they are both stars on the rise.

A tag team summit will take place. What does that mean? Here’s WWE to try to explain:

SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Rowan’s mission to have the Tag Team division take centerstage on Team Blue will enter its next phase this Tuesday night, when the first-ever SmackDown Tag Team Championship Summit takes place.

Bryan & Rowan, The New Day and Heavy Machinery, the three teams that will square off for the titles at WWE Extreme Rules, will all be present. Will tensions rise just five nights before the major Triple Threat title match?

The three teams are meeting at Extreme Rules, so this is just a way to build to that match.

Prediction: It will turn into a brawl, they will go to commercial and we will get a match out of it. I’ll guess the match is New Day vs. Heavy Machinery. It could also be a singles match. I don’t know what match it’s going to be, but I would be surprised if it didn’t lead to a match.

That’s all for Smackdown for now.