WWE SmackDown Rankings: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn Dominating?

Smackdown. Photo by WWE.com

The SmackDown Live Mid Card Division

Highlights of the division

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn were the stars of the show when Smackdown Live kicked off with them insulting Daniel Bryan to winning their main event tag team match. Sami Zayn scored the biggest win of his career by pinning Randy Orton after delivering his finisher to him. Who would have thought that one month ago Sami Zayn would be in the main event angle and score a big win over a 13 time WWE Champion. This tandem is the only thing that is keeping Smackdown Live relevant when comparing it to either Raw or NXT. That is a sad statement but it’s also the truth. 

Baron Corbin retained the United States Championship against AJ Styles last week only to lose to Sin Cara by count-out this week? Really? Why would the WWE even book that match to make the champ look like that? Sin Cara is a talented performer so this count-out win does help him but he hasn’t been booked on Smackdown Live for so long that nobody even knows what to make of it. As for the Lone Wolf, he must be treated the same way AJ Styles has when he was the United States Champion. He needs to be treated as a badass who will do whatever it takes to keep his gold. Not look like a guy who got outsmarted by his opponents and lose matches he shouldn’t have.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the division…

Is Rusev and Aiden English officially a tag team now? If they are planning to feud with the New Day then this is a step in the wrong direction for the Bulgarian Brute. The WWE did that to Rusev exactly last year on Raw when he lost his chance to win the United States Championship to Roman Reigns, they shoved him in a meaningless tag team with Jinder Mahal. That tag team benefitted Mahal more than it did Rusev because it gave Mahal the opportunity to develop his character and when he was traded to Smackdown Live in April he became WWE Champion. Rusev is a talent that shouldn’t be wasted but honestly after losing to Randy Orton, does the WWE even care about him at all?

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

WWE United States Champion: Baron Corbin (11 Wins – 20 Losses)

Contenders

• Top Contender: AJ Styles (19 Wins – 14 Losses)
• Contender No. 2: Kevin Owens (16 Wins – 17 Losses)
• Contender No. 3: Sami Zayn (13 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: Dolph Ziggler (6 Wins – 16 Losses)
• Pretender No. 2: Mike Kanellis (1 Win – 4 Losses)
• Pretender No. 3: Aiden English (5 Wins – 10 Losses)
• Pretender No. 4: Sin Cara (3 Wins – 7 Losses)