WWE SmackDown Live Preview, September 18, 2018 – WrestleTalk

The SmackDown Live side of this past Sunday’s Hell in a Cell event was somewhat of a mixed bag.

• On the pre-show (annoyingly), New Day retained their SmackDown Tag Team Championships against Aiden English and Rusev of Rusev Day in a very entertaining match that finished with some slight Rusev/English shenanigans
• Randy Orton defeated Jeff Hardy in a brutal Hell in a Cell match after Hardy fell from the cell ceiling through a table
• Becky Lynch overcame the biggest heel in WWE‘s women’s division Charlotte Flair with a roll-up to capture her second WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
• AJ Styles successfully defended his WWE Championship against Samoa Joe with a roll-up, but replays showed that before the ref counted three, AJ actually tapped out to the Coquina Clutch
• The Miz and Maryse won a nothing mixed tag match against Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella with a roll-up

Yes, you read that right, three out of five matches finished with a roll-up.

So expect a lot of “you only beat me because you got lucky” on tonight’s show.

 

Mystery guest on Miz TV

Despite defeated Daniel Bryan at SummerSlam, and teaming with wife Maryse to defeat Bryan and Brie Bella on Sunday, The Miz still has another match scheduled against the ‘”Yes! Man,’ and that will take place at October 6’s WWE Super Show-Down.

That bout will be a WWE Championship number one contender’s match, but for now, The Miz is concentrating on hosting Miz TV, and has a mystery guest lined up for tonight’s edition.

Who could it be? Miz hasn’t really got a lot of business with anyone other than Bryan, and I assume he’s not going to voluntarily invite them onto his talk show…

I bet it’s Maryse.

 

Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy HIAC fallout

On top of being a vile, disgusting creature and twisting Jeff Hardy’s ear around a screwdriver, Randy Orton picked up the win in their match at Hell in a Cell.

Many thought that would be the last we’d see of Jeff for quite a while, but alas, he wrestled on a SmackDown house show yesterday, the ABSOLUTE MENTALIST.

It will be interesting to see what this means for both guys. Will Hardy seek retribution, or will Orton turn his attention to someone else?

 

Becky Lynch’s coronation

The ‘Irish Lass Kicker’ Becky Lynch is scheduled for a ‘coronation’ on tonight’s show to celebrate her WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship win over Charlotte Flair at Hell in a Cell. And WWE just couldn’t help themselves, and had to try and portray Lynch as the heel yet again. It didn’t work. Yet again.

Charlotte does now have a contractual rematch for the title, though. Unless their match at Super Show-Down counts, which surely it shouldn’t. I don’t know, and I don’t think WWE knows either. Either way, we know their bout won’t be happening at WWE‘s newest upcoming event in Saudi Arabia, WWE Crown Jewel.

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Nonetheless, expect Charlotte to interrupt this ‘coronation,’ an get booed out of the building. Could they do a double turn here? I mean, they could. They won’t though. They hate nice things.

 

Nakamura to defend US Title against Rusev

WWE United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura wasn’t part of the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, mainly because there is a clear lack of depth on the SmackDown Live roster that means there wasn’t really anyone to challenge him.

Step up the ‘Lion of Bulgaria,’ hot off the back of a Tag Team Title match loss on the pre-show at HiaC.

“What did Rusev do to earn this opportunity?” I hear you ask. Well basically, it’s Rusev Day. That’s it.

https://twitter.com/RealPaigeWWE/status/1041769078627680256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1041769078627680256%7Ctwgr%5E373939313b636f6e74726f6c&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwe.com%2Fshows%2Fsmackdown%2F2018-09-18

It’s a nigh-on certainty that Aiden English is going to get involved tonight, either to help Rusev capture the gold, or, more likely following Sunday’s events, accidentally (or maybe even purposefully) cost Rusev the match to set up a program between the two. A program that no-one wants to see.

 

AJ Styles vs. Andrade Almas

WWE Champion AJ Styles just about scraped away with his title at HiaC, when he rolled up Joe while locked in the Coquina Clutch. What the ref, and I at the time, missed, though, was that Styles actually tapped out before the ref counted three.

We’ve seen Almas and Styles go at it in the past, and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that this is going to be a pretty darn good match, but expect Joe to interrupt proceedings, or conduct a post-match beatdown, which is now something he’s completely entitled to do really. If AJ really is such a great sportsman, surely he’ll admit he lost and give the title to Joe? For some reason or another, I don’t see that happening.

 

The Rest

• New Day will defend the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships against the Bar at Super Show-Down – we may start building to that clash tonight
• Another match set for SS-D is the IIconics vs. Naomi & Asuka – we may a singles match between Asuka and either Billie and Peyton

 

What are you looking forward to on WWE SmackDown Live tonight? Let us know on Twitter and Discord!

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