4 Predictions for WWE SmackDown Live: May 2, 2017

A Short Title Reign for Y2J

At Payback, Chris Jericho shocked the world when he defeated Kevin Owens to win the United States Champion. The unpredictably behind his win was due to two separate facts. First, it’s common knowledge at this point that Jericho is set to leave the company temporarily. He’s set to go on tour with his band Fozzy, so any attempt to manage both projects would be incredibly difficult.

Second, Kevin Owens had been delivering strong performances since winning the championship at WrestleMania. He’d just debuted a new open challenge, so it appeared that he was set for a lengthy run as champion. To go along with that, Owens is one of the top stars in WWE right now. For the time being, he needs to build himself back up after his humiliating loss to Goldberg a few months ago.

Knowing all of this, what exactly is WWE thinking right now? Personally, I believe that they are going to present us with the tiebreaking contest for their feud this week. The championship will be up for grabs, and to hype up the title match at Backlash, AJ Styles may be present on commentary as well. It would certainly progress several different storylines that are taking shape on the Blue Brand.

In terms of who could win, the smart money has to be on Kevin Owens. He’s the full-time athlete, and the work the Prizefighter has delivered has earned him the title. Jericho on the other hand, doesn’t need the belt during his upcoming absence. If the United States Championship means that much to him, he can invoke his rematch clause upon his return.