WWE SmackDown Rankings: Baron Corbin is Still US Champ

Hell in a Cell. Photo by WWE.com

The Smackdown Live Mid Card Division

Highlights of the division

Kevin Owens winning his Hell in a Cell match against Shane McMahon with the help of Sami Zayn wasn’t something that anybody expected. Zayn has always been one of the purest babyfaces in WWE but his booking never really helped him on either Raw or SmackDown Live since the draft.

Zayn’s promo on SmackDown Live explaining his actions in helping Kevin Owens was not only very sound, but it also made a lot of sense. You can’t really classify Zayn turning into a heel when all he did was save Kevin Owens from certain destruction. So what will happen next with these two brothers? Only time will tell. 

Baron Corbin did the unthinkable and won the Untied States Championship on Sunday and also beat AJ Styles to retain it on SmackDown Live. It’s crazy to envision that the guy who lost the Money in the Bank cash-in attempt, then got squashed by John Cena at SummerSlam would win the gold.

In all honesty, it should have happened a long time ago back in WrestleMania when he squared off against Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship. Now that he defeated AJ Styles, it should be time to set up that rubber match with Tye Dillinger since he did beat him last week on SmackDown Live.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the division…

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

As for AJ Styles, since he lost his rematch to capture the US Championship, it’s about time he moves back up in the WWE Championship picture. He never once got his one on one rematch for the WWE Championship since losing it at the Royal Rumble this year and that is the angle that should be played up. It’s obvious that Styles is the face of the blue brand and he is the only guy remaining who can dethrone Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship.

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

WWE United States Champion: Baron Corbin (11 Wins – 19 Losses)

Contenders

• Top Contender: AJ Styles (19 Wins – 14 Losses)
• Contender No. 2: Kevin Owens (15 Wins – 17 Losses)
• Contender No. 3: Sami Zayn (12 Wins – 19 Losses)
• Contender No. 4: Chris Jericho (5 Wins – 9 Losses)
• Contender No. 5: Rusev (5 Wins – 13 Losses)
• Contender No. 6: Tye Dillinger (6 Wins – 9 Losses)

Pretenders

• Pretender No. 1: Mike Kanellis (1 Win – 4 Losses)
• Pretender No. 2: Dolph Ziggler (5 Wins – 16 Losses)
• Pretender No. 3: Aiden English (5 Wins – 10 Losses)
• Pretender No. 4: Sin Cara (2 Wins – 7 Losses)