WWE Smackdown Rankings: Can Nakamura Win The WWE Title?

Smackdown Live. Photo by WWE.com

The Smackdown Live Mid Card Division

Highlights of the division

The story that’s brewing between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon came front and center at the beginning of SmackDown. With the commissioner being “suspended” for assaulting Kevin Owens, the question remains, what is next for the former United States Champion? This storyline has an eerie and similar feeling to the 2011 story that surrounded R-Truth, The Miz and Triple H. Remember that both the Miz and R-Truth felt there was a conspiracy surrounding them and their opportunity for capturing championship gold. They solely blamed Triple H for all of their misfortunes and actually turned the locker room against him in a work strike on Raw. 

So with Vince McMahon returning next week to SmackDown Live, this story could potentially shift the show into Raw territory, which means a huge portion of the show will be focused on Kevin Owens trying to turn SmackDown into his own personal playground. This is clearly a huge step up from the position he was in when he was the United States Champion. If he isn’t allowed to go after championships on the blue brand, he might as well introduce a little bit of anarchy to a show that was mostly wrestling centric since the WWE Draft last year.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the division.

Baron Corbin defeated Tye Dillinger, but the loser of the match gets a US Title opportunity next week? It doesn’t make any sense at all since SmackDown has had a hard time developing their mid card talent into credible performers. Which is why Dolph Ziggler made the perfect point on how the fans don’t care about what happens in the ring, they care about the theatrics. It’s a shame that wins and losses don’t matter to the WWE, because both Ziggler and Dillinger have great personas and in ring talent but are cast away because they don’t fit the WWE mold.

Let’s see the rankings for the division this week.

WWE United States Champion: AJ Styles (18 Wins – 12 Losses)

Contenders

• Top Contender: Kevin Owens (14 Wins – 17 Losses)
• Contender No. 2: Sami Zayn (12 Wins – 19 Losses)
• Contender No. 3: Baron Corbin (8 Wins – 18 Losses)
• Contender No. 4: Chris Jericho (5 Wins – 9 Losses)
• Contender No. 5: Rusev (4 Wins – 11 Losses)
• Contender No. 6: Mike Kanellis (1 Win – 3 Losses)

Pretenders

• Pretender No. 1: Tye Dillinger (5 Wins – 6 Losses)
• Pretender No. 2: Dolph Ziggler (5 Wins – 15 Losses)
• Pretender No. 3: Aiden English (5 Wins – 8 Losses)
• Pretender No. 4: Sin Cara (2 Wins – 7 Losses)
• Pretender No. 5: Luke Harper (2 Wins – 11 Losses)
• Pretender No. 6: Erick Rowan (1 Win – 6 Losses)