It’s Friday folks, and that means another episode of SmackDown is on tonight. As always, you can expect in-depth coverage from the Overtimer, including a look ahead at everything we can expect to see. With the show about ten minutes away as of this posting, let’s get into the WWE Friday Night SmackDown Preview!
A special look at the history between Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman
It’s been very clear that Bray Wyatt will be going after Braun Strowman’s recently won WWE Universal Championship and I think a lot of people probably expect him to reclaim the blue belt that he himself introduced just a few months ago. Their feud is naturally centered around their history with the Wyatt Family. If nothing else Bray’s character has seemingly triggered a spur of continuity in WWE as of late and just about everything he does is a callback of some kind.
Last week, Bray sent Braun a black sheep mask, just like the ones he wore when he was working under Bray in the Wyatt Family. I was always a little disappointed in how quietly that group disbanded, more than once at that, with very little explanation ever given for what motivated the likes of Rowan or Strowman to break free. Perhaps we’ll learn that during this program. Tonight though, we’ll be looking back at Strowman’s early years, which probably means video packages aplenty.
Money In The Bank Qualifiers: Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans, Drew Gulak vs. King Corbin
We’re pretty close now to having the full picture for the Money In The Bank ladder matches, atleast in terms of who will be involved. How these matches will actually play out is pretty hard to predict. I can’t help but think it’ll either be totally amazing or a complete disaster. Perhaps both!
Drew Gulak has gotten a surprising little push over the last few months, after feuding with and then allying with Daniel Bryan. But King Corbin’s been a major part of the shows for a long time and they’ve gone out of their way to try and make him more brutal of late. Still, he’s a big dude in a black crown and cape and hits people with scepters. He’ll never stop being wacky. And as zany as these scrambles up WWE HQ promise to be, it’d be weird not to involve him. Corbin over.
Lacey/Sasha doubles as a qualifier and as a long standing grudge match, which is nice. Lacey has had issues with Sasha dating back to January and somehow they haven’t rammed the match down our throats yet, it’s still relatively fresh. Given the issues between Sasha Banks and Bayley, it’d almost seem like a wasted opportunity not to have Sasha in this match, even if she isn’t going to win. It just seems like it’d make it really easy to continue the tension. And if she DOES win, imagine how paranoid Bayley would get! Sasha over.
Criss-Cross Defend The WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross will be taking on Dana Brooke and Carmella tonight with the gold on the line, after accepting this match a couple of weeks ago. Even though Dana and Carmella are a pretty new team it already seems like it’ll be short-lived. ‘Mella wasn’t too happy with Dana trying to qualify for MITB instead of focusing on this match. I have to imagine that the champs retain, and Carmella will probably blame Dana for it regardless of how it happens. Considering that the SmackDown Women’s division basically has no heels aside from the main team of Sasha and Bayley, it’d be a sound move to turn Carmella right now. (Tamina will also probably be a heel soon but as long as she’s going after Bayley she’s still a face.)
Plus: A celebration of Triple H’s 25th year with the WWE!
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