WWE Smackdown Rankings: Kevin Owens Destroys Sami Zayn

Smackdown Live. Photo by WWE.com

The Smackdown Live Mid Card Division

Highlights of the division

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn is a rivalry that the WWE has overkilled the past 2 years. But inserting it into the McMahon/Owens feud was a stroke of genius. Sami Zayn needed to be featured on Smackdown Live for the longest time and he made the most out of it this past Tuesday Night. He was arguably the star of the show with the segments he had with Owens and Daniel Bryan. Even the match he had in the main-event with his long time rival just showed the world that Sami Zayn has the potential to be the biggest babyface on the Smackdown Live brand. He’s a “Daniel Bryan” in the making that the WWE should be pushing right away.

More from SmackDown

• Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
• Potential Challengers for Roman Reigns before WrestleMania
• WWE SmackDown Predictions: AJ Styles Will Help Randy Orton
• WWE SmackDown Predictions: Street Profits Will Dethrone Judgment Day
• SmackDown reminded us of how pointless the brand split is

Baron Corbin beat Tye Dillinger by count-out to punch his ticket to a United States Championship match at Hell in a Cell. The Lone Wolf has lost all his mojo back in August after his failed cash-in and Summerslam loss to John Cena, but he has made some footing in the US title picture. AJ Styles should be considered the favourite to retain the championship since he’s the biggest star Smackdown Live has got. It doesn’t seem like the WWE will have Styles drop the championship to Corbin this soon after winning the gold a month ago.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the division…

Rusev had the best segment on Smackdown Live with his celebration ceremony. Having Aiden English sing the Bulgarian national anthem was genius and a good way to have his skill set used properly in this type of scenarios. The Bulgarian Brute was made to look like a fool once again after Randy Orton ambushed him and gave him an RKO. The WWE will need to do a better job of portraying Rusev as an equal to Randy Orton, not a clown who gets outsmarted by the Viper every week.

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

WWE United States Champion: AJ Styles (19 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 (9 Wins – 18 Losses)
• Contender No. 4: Chris Jericho (5 Wins – 9 Losses)
• Contender No. 5: Rusev (5 Wins – 11 Losses)
• Contender No. 6: Mike Kanellis (1 Win – 3 Losses)

Pretenders

• Pretender No. 1: Tye Dillinger (5 Wins – 8 Losses)
• Pretender No. 2: Dolph Ziggler (5 Wins – 15 Losses)
• Pretender No. 3: Aiden English (5 Wins – 9 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)