WWE SmackDown Rankings: Randy Orton Beats Sami Zayn

Smackdown. Photo by WWE.com

The Smackdown Live Mid Card Division

Highlights of the division

Sami Zayn looks like he’s having the time of his life as Smackdown’s top heel, which was something nobody fathomed at the beginning of the month. Even though Zayn lost his opportunity to qualify for the Survivor Series team, I don’t think it’ll be the last time we see of him. Same could be said for Kevin Owens who will be facing Shinsuke Nakamura next week for another spot on the Survivor Series team.

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It seems like Owens will probably lose that match as well but how will Zayn and Owens be booked afterwards? They could defect to Raw or sabotage the Smackdown team to limit their chances in winning their Survivor Series match. There are many avenues that the WWE could take with Zayn and Owens supposedly out of the Survivor Series match.

The mishandling of Baron Corbin has been baffling this year and his short reign as United States Champion is even more bizarre. So he wins the gold at Hell in a Cell and then retains it by beating AJ Styles clean in the ring, but he can’t beat Sin Cara? Really? And now he’s going to face the Miz at Survivor Series in a champion versus champion match? This is by far the most hilarious thing I have ever seen on WWE programming in such a while.

It’s clear at this point that the WWE believe that the fans don’t really pay attention to their product after their shows conclude every week. If the WWE want to treat an amazing talent like Baron Corbin into a guy who can’t beat his competition after winning the gold from the best performer in the business just 2 weeks ago, then they need to get their head examined. 

Meanwhile, for the rest of the division…

AJ Styles has had one heck of a run the past few days, facing Finn Balor at TLC and helping the Shield beat the Miz’s team on Raw. But his goal of capturing his second WWE Championship will be fascinating to watch. Will he face Jinder Mahal for the gold before Survivor Series or afterwards? Will he be apart of the Survivor Series team in the meantime before he clashes with the Modern Day Maharaja? These will be key questions to determine whether AJ Styles will be shifted into the main event scene for the long run or is still being left in the mid card division in the meantime.

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

WWE United States Champion: Baron Corbin (11 Wins – 21 Losses)

Contenders

• Top Contender: AJ Styles (21 Wins – 15 Losses)
• Contender No. 2: Kevin Owens (16 Wins – 17 Losses)
• Contender No. 3: Sami Zayn (13 Wins – 20 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: Sin Cara (4 Wins – 7 Losses)
• Pretender No. 3: Aiden English (5 Wins – 10 Losses)
• Pretender No. 4: Mike Kanellis (1 Win – 4 Losses)