WWE has announced several matches that could influence the line-up of their next pay-per-view, Extreme Rules, for the upcoming episode of SmackDown Live.
About two weeks ago, Kayla Braxton was speaking to WWE Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor backstage, asking him what was next for him when Shinsuke Nakamura strolled onto the screen. Nakamura walked up to the champ and gave a little “too sweet” to the belt before walking off.
From that segment, many of the WWE Universe excitedly felt that this could mean Nakamura would be challenging for the title, maybe at Extreme Rules. Now, the WWE has announced Balor and Nakamura will meet on the upcoming episode of SmackDown.
While it sounds like the SmackDown match is a non-title match, it’s not totally off base to think this could be a build towards a championship match for Balor and Nakamura at Extreme Rules.
NXT call up Aleister Black has yet to have a match since the Superstar Shakeup put him on the blue brand. Instead, he’s had a series of backstage segments where he sits in a dark room and asks “anyone” to challenge him.
Now, “anyone” is set to be Black’s opponent at Extreme Rules and their identity is to be revealed on SmackDown.
Also announced for the upcoming episode of SmackDown is a Tag Team Summit. Current SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan will be appearing along with their challengers The New Day and Heavy Machinery. The three are set to clash during Extreme Rules for the titles.
During last week’s SmackDown, the impromptu team up of Dolph Ziggler and Kevin Owens failed to qualify for the tag team championship match at Extreme Rules. They imploded rather spectacularly in the ring and this has led to a match against each other on this week’s SmackDown. Could this be leading to an Extreme Rules match for the two?
